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RA776M33  Keeping  fit,  by  Oris 


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KEEPING   FIT 


BY 

ORISON   SWETT   HARDEN 

AUTHOR  OF  '*  PUSHING  TO  THE  FRONT," 
"  THE  JOYS  OF  LIVING,"  ETC. 


Physical  vigor  is  a  tremendous  success  as  well  as 
happiness  asset 


NEW    YORK 

THOMAS   Y.    CROWELL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1914, 
By  THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 

Published  November,  19H 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Keeping  Fit 1 

II.  The  Miracle  of  Food 30 

III.  What  to  Eat,   or.   The  Science  of  Nutri- 
tion   50 

IV.  A  Vegetable  or  a  Mixed  Diet,   Which?    .      81 

V.  Nature's  Own  Food 107 

VI.  How  Food  Affects  Character       .        .        .123 

VII.  Culinary  Crimes  and  Complex  Living         .    141 

VIII.  Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating  ....    l65 

IX.  Overeating  .       . 188 

X.  Eating  for  Efficiency 210 

XI.  Foods,   Fads  and  Habits  .....   235 

XII.  Fatigue  Poison 266 

XIII.  How  Nature  Mothers  Us      ...        .   286 

XIV.  What  to  Eat  After  Fifty     .        .        .        .314 
XV.  Masterfulness    and    the     Great     Out    of 

Doors 334 


KEEPING  FIT 


Health  is  the  vital  principle  of  life. — Thomson. 

Who  well  lives,  long  lives;  for  this  age  of  ours 
Should  not  be  numbered  by  years,  days,  and  hours, 

— G.  DE  S.  Du  Baetas. 

Nor  love   nor   honor,   wealth   nor   power, 
Can  give  the  heart  a  cheerful  hour 
When  health  is  lost.     Be  timely  wise; 
With  health  all  taste  of  pleasure  flies. 

— John  Gay. 

The  thousand  little  hints  which  may  save  or  lengthen  life, 
may  repel  or  abate  disease,  or  the  simple  laws  which  regulate 
our  bodily  vigor,  should  be  so  familiar  that  we  may  be  quick 
to  apply  them  in  an  emergency.  The  preservation  of  health 
is  easier  than  the  cure  of  disease. — J.  Dorman  Steele. 

Nature  demands  that  man  be  ever  at  the  top  of  his  condi- 
tion. He  who  violates  her  laws  must  pay  the  penalty  though 
he  sit  on  a  throne. 

Physical  vigor  is  a  tremendous  success  as  well  as  happiness 
asset. 

The  reserve  of  readiness  is  the  secret  of  all 
achievement.  The  grandest  work  a  human  be- 
ing can  do  is  to  keep  himself  fit  for  the  great- 
est thing  he  is  capable  of  doing,  the  highest 
service  he  is  capable  of  rendering;  always  up  to 
the  level  of  his  greatest  efficiency. 


Keeping  Fit 


To  keep  fit  is  to  maintain  perfect  health; 
and  perfect  health  depends  upon  a  perfect  bal- 
ance of  mind  and  body,  unimpaired  physical 
vigor  and  absolute  inner  harmony,  and  a  calm, 
mental  poise  which  nothing  can  disturb. 

Every  normal  human  being  can,  if  he  will, 
raise  himself  to  this  condition.  He  can  live  in 
such  a  simple  yet  scientific  manner  that  he  will 
not  only  have  great  disease-resisting  power  but 
will  also  be  at  the  maximum  of  his  creative 
ability. 

When  the  body  is  in  superb  physical  condi- 
tion, it  stimulates  the  mind  and  develops  its 
maximum  of  the  force  that  creates,  that  accom- 
plishes. When  the  body  is  down  the  mind  is 
down,  all  life's  standards  are  down,  and  the 
whole  nature  is  demoralized.  No  one  can  be 
healthy  or  harmonious  with  a  morbid  or  pes- 
simistic outlook  on  life,  for  this  produces 
physical  and  mental  depression,  the  forerun- 
ner of  ill  health. 

Not  only  disease  catches  him  whose  vitality, 
physical  resiliency  and  resisting  power  are  low, 
but  mediocrity  marks  him  also,  because  all  his 
mental  standards  are  down,  too. 

I  criticized  a  carpenter  working  for  me  re- 


Keeping  Fit 


cently  for  using  dull  tools.  He  excused  him- 
self by  saying  that  he  had  been  too  busy  to 
sharpen  them.  He  had  been  working  for  weeks 
with  a  dull  saw,  and  with  a  plane  which  had 
notches  in  it,  leaving  ugly  ridges  on  the  boards 
he  was  planing.  He  had  probably  wasted  more 
time  in  working  with  dull  tools  than  would 
have  been  required  to  sharpen  them  several 
times,  to  say  nothing  of  the  inferior  work  he 
was  turning  out. 

Many  people  go  through  life  doing  their 
work  with  dull  tools  just  as  this  carpenter  did. 
The  edge  is  off  their  energy;  their  ambition  is 
dull;  their  initiative  lags;  their  enthusiasm  is 
exhausted;  their  will-power  is  weak;  their  in- 
telligence is  blunted ;  all  their  powers  are  at  the 
minimum  instead  of  the  maximum  of  their 
efficiency,  because  they  have  neglected  their 
health  or  in  some  other  way  reduced  their  effi- 
ciency by  failing  to  keep  fit. 

The  most  precious  capital  a  man  has  are  his 
deposits  of  life  force,  of  vitality  and  of  reserve 
power,  in  his  physical  bank ;  and  there  is  noth- 
ing which  will  lead  to  bankruptcy  of  a  man's 
life  quicker  than  neglect  or  abuse  of  his  health 
capital.    A  man  too  busy  to  take  care  of  his 


4  Keeping  Fit 


health  is  Hke  the  workman  too  busy  to 
sharpen  his  tools.  Anything  that  produces, 
should  be  kept  in  a  condition  to  produce  the 
largest  possible  output. 

What  should  we  think  of  a  man  who  had  an 
enormous  gold-mine,  but  carelessly  cut  down 
its  possible  output  seventy-five  per  cent?  Yet, 
most  of  us  cut  down  the  possible  output  of  our 
brains,  our  energies,  even  more  than  seventy- 
five  per  cent,  by  our  carelessness,  strangling  or 
crippling  our  sources  of  power.  We  should 
think  it  pretty  bad  economy  for  an  engineer, 
who  had  a  power  plant  capable  of  producing 
a  hundred  thousand  horse  power,  to  utilize  only 
ten  per  cent,  of  it.  Yet  that  is  precisely  what 
most  of  us  do  with  our  physical  powers. 

Now,  health  squandered  can  never  be  com- 
pensated for  by  the  mere  acquisition  of  money. 
It  is  simply  lack  of  intelligence  that  causes 
any  one  to  barter  health  for  wealth.  A  well- 
balanced  man  would  find  the  way  to  have  both 
with  detriment  to  neither. 

The  lowering  of  physical  vitality  by  unsci- 
entific living,  by  vicious  practices,  or  by  dissi- 
pation, correspondingly  lowers  our  general  ef- 
ficiency, mentality,  and  will-power. 


Keeping  Fit 


Some  of  the  largest  employers  in  the  coun- 
try tell  me  that  many  employees  come  to  their 
work  in  the  morning  so  completely  used  up, 
their  faculties  jaded,  their  spirits  low,  that 
they  are  incapable  of  accuracy  or  satisfactory 
efficiency.  They  have  no  enthusiasm  for  their 
work ;  their  minds  wander ;  they  make  all  sorts 
of  mistakes  and  blunders,  and  their  vitality  is 
so  depleted  that  they  are  in  no  condition  to 
focus  their  powers  upon  their  work.  The  su- 
perintendent of  one  of  the  largest  concerns  in 
New  York  tells  me  that  it  is  really  pitiable  to 
watch  some  of  the  employees  when  they  come 
to  work  mornings,  especially  after  holidays. 
He  says  they  look  as  if  they  had  already  been 
through  a  hard,  trying  day's  work,  and  were 
utterly  exhausted  and  ready  to  quit  work  in- 
stead of  just  starting  it  for  the  day.  He  says 
that  it  often  takes  half  a  day  or  more  for  them 
to  get  into  condition  to  do  even  passable  work ; 
that  they  are  indifferent,  without  energy  or 
enthusiasm  all  the  forenoon;  and  that,  in  fact, 
often  many  of  them  do  not  get  into  the  true 
swing  of  their  work  during  the  entire  day. 

These  workers  probably  think  they  are  hav- 
ing a  good  time  in  thus  dissipating  their  energy 


6  Keeping  Fit 


by  turning  night  into  day,  robbing  themselves 
of  sleep,  and  going  to  all  sorts  of  amusements 
and  questionable  places.  They  call  this  ex- 
citement, this  dissipation,  "enjoying  life,"  but 
they  little  realize  what  they  pay  for  it. 

I  know  young  men  and  women  workers  who 
tell  me  that  it  is  a  rare  thing  for  them  to  retire 
before  midnight,  and  often  not  till  one,  two, 
or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Of  course 
they  must  do  very  inferior  work  during  the 
following  day.  Yet  on  every  hand  employees 
are  complaining  that  they  are  not  treated 
fairly,  that  they  don't  have  a  fair  chance,  and 
that  they  are  discriminated  against. 

It  is  not  the  vitality  we  utilize  that  dwarfs 
our  power  and  whittles  away  and  shortens  life ; 
it  is  what  we  foolishly  throw  away.  Millions 
of  people  have  made  failures  in  life  by  letting 
their  health,  their  most  precious  asset,  which 
might  have  made  them  successful,  slip  away 
from  them  in  foolish  living  and  silly  dissipa- 
tion. 

Keeping  ourselves  fit,  up  to  our  highest 
physical  and  mental  standards,  so  that  we  are 
always  ready  to  do  the  most  superb  thing  pos- 
sible to  us,  is  not  an  easy  task.    Few  are  will- 


Keeping  Fit 


ing  to  pay  the  price  for  it  in  self-denial  and 
sacrifice  of  what  others  call  "having  a  good 
time."  But  it  is  the  only  price  for  masterful- 
ness, and  he  who  is  not  willing  to  pay  it,  who 
is  not  ambitious  to  make  his  life  successful,  to 
make  it  count,  must  be  content  to  be  cata- 
logued with  the  mediocrities;  he  must  be  sat- 
isfied to  be  classed  with  the  nobodies,  those 
who  would  like  to  be  somebodies  and  do  some- 
thing in  the  world  but  are  not  willing  to  plod 
the  path  of  self-restraint  which  alone  leads  to 
excellence. 

The  desire  is  not  enough ;  it  must  be  backed 
by  vigorous  resolution — determination  which 
knows  no  retreat. 

He  who  would  get  the  most  out  of  life,  who 
would  reach  the  highest  expression  in  his  work, 
and  yet  would  retain  his  freshness,  vigor,  and 
enthusiasm  to  the  last,  must  lead  a  regular  life. 
He  must  conform  to  the  rules  of  health;  he 
must  become  acquainted  with  his  own  body 
and  give  it  all  its  needs,  no  more,  no  less,  to 
keep  it  always  at  the  top  of  its  achievement- 
possibility. 

The  moment  there  is  any  letting  down  of 
standards,  or  decline  in  physical  or  mental 


8  Keeping  Fit 


force,  deterioration  expresses  itself  at  once  in 
everything  one  does. 

The  quality  of  the  work  cannot  be  up  to 
high-water  mark  when  any  faculty  or  function, 
any  of  your  ability  is  prejudicially  affected  by 
inferior  physical  or  mental  condition.  You 
may  be  sure  that  your  weakness,  whatever  its 
cause,  will  appear  in  your  day's  work  to  dilute 
or  cheapen  its  quality,  whether  it  is  making 
books  or  selling  them,  teaching  school  or  study- 
ing, singing  or  painting,  chiseling  statues  or 
digging  trenches. 

I  know  men  with  but  one  talent  whose  life 
habits  are  so  healthful  and  regular ;  whose  meal 
hours,  time  for  recreation  and  sleep,  exercise, 
and  vacations  are  so  well  ordered;  who  take 
such  superb  care  of  themselves  that  they  are 
constantly  at  the  top  of  their  physical  and 
mental  condition,  and  accomplish  with  ease 
much  more  than  other  men  of  five  or  ten  tal- 
ents who  waste  their  energy  and  squander  their 
power  by  abusing  their  human  machines,  so 
marvelously  and  wonderfully  made. 

I  recall  a  slipshod,  slovenly  farmer  who 
never  seemed  to  have  anything  just  right  on 
his  farm.     His  fences  needed  mending;  his 


Keeping  Fit  9 


barns  were  not  painted ;  his  harness  was  usually 
tied  up  with  a  string  or  piece  of  rope;  there 
was  always  something  out  of  gear  in  his  car- 
riages and  carts.  His  farm  buildings  were 
dilapidated,  windows  broken,  and  old  hats  used 
in  the  place  of  glass.  The  yard  was  filled  with 
worn-out  sleds,  broken  pieces  of  machinery, 
and  bits  of  junk  of  all  sorts.  Shiftlessness  and 
lack  of  system  was  everywhere  in  evidence. 
The  whole  farm  was  covered  over  with  the 
earmarks  of  his  sloppy,  slovenly  methods.  He 
himself  was  always  "just  getting  along"  with 
things  until  he  could  get  time.  He  would  say 
to  his  farm  hands,  "Just  make  it  go  now;  do 
it  anyhow  so  we  can  get  along.  When  we 
have  a  rainy  day  we  can  fix  it  in  good  shape." 
But  the  things  were  never  fixed  "in  good 
shape."  Whenever  I  asked  him  how  he  was 
getting  along,  he  would  tell  me  about  his 
"hard  luck,"  how  things  were  always  going 
against  him.  But  his  neighbor,  now — ^he  al- 
ways seemed  to  be  "lucky."  His  harvests  were 
always  good,  and  he  did  not  have  half  so  much 
trouble  with  his  help  as  the  other  had.  This 
was  true,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  difference 
in  luck  was  that  the  neighbor  was  naturally 


10  Keeping  Fit 


orderly  and  systematic.  He  cultivated  the 
same  sort  of  soil,  but  with  a  difference.  Every- 
thing about  his  place  had  a  snug,  neat  appear- 
ance. Buildings  were  painted  and  in  good 
repair;  yards  were  clean;  wagons,  carts,  and 
farm  machinery  were  in  good  order.  Work 
was  always  done  in  season,  and  in  the  right 
way. 

It  was  just  the  difference  in  the  methods  of 
these  farmers  that  made  one  "lucky"  and  well- 
to-do,  the  other  "unlucky"  and  head  over  heels 
in  debt,  with  a  mortgage  on  his  farm.  They 
are  good  types  of  the  people  who  keep  fit  and 
those  who  do  not. 

A  great  many  people  go  through  life  just 
like  the  sloppy,  slovenly  farmer.  They  never 
have  things  up  to  the  mark.  There  is  always 
something  the  matter  with  their  life  machin- 
ery; it  is  out  of  order,  and  they  go  on  from 
year  to  year  sowing  faulty  seed  and  reaping 
scant  harvests. 

Distinctive  achievement  of  any  kind  is 
costly.  It  is  not  half  as  easy  as  sliding  along 
the  line  of  least  resistance  and  having  a  good 
time,  not  bothering  one's  head  about  system; 
but  there  is  a  wide  difference  in  the  results. 


Keeping  Fit  11 


There  is  nothing  like  keeping  fit,  keeping 
things  up  to  the  standard;  nothing  like  regu- 
larity in  one's  life  habits,  order  and  system, 
both  in  life  and  in  work.  It  will  make  all  the 
difference  in  the  world,  in  results,  whether  you 
go  to  your  work  every  day  in  prime  condition, 
with  all  your  faculties  up  to  their  standards; 
whether  you  go  at  the  top  notch  of  your  effi- 
ciency; whether  you  go  an  entire  man,  so  that 
you  can  fling  your  whole  life  into  your  task, 
or  only  part  of  one.  He  who  wins  in  this 
day  of  sharp  competition  must  bring  the  whole 
of  himself  to  his  task;  he  must  keep  himself 
fit  in  every  respect. 

Most  people  take  only  a  small  part  of  them- 
selves to  their  tasks.  They  cripple  much  of 
their  ability  by  irregular  living,  bad  habits,  lack 
of  sleep,  and  eating  injurious  food.  They  do 
not  go  to  their  tasks  every  morning  whole  men ; 
a  part  of  themselves,  often  a  large  part,  is 
somewhere  else.  They  have  been  trying  to 
have  a  good  time.  They  carry  weakness  in- 
stead of  power,  indifference  and  dullness  in- 
stead of  enthusiasm  and  alertness,  to  the  per- 
formance of  the  most  important  duties  of  their 
lives. 


12  Keeping  Fit 


There  are,  on  the  other  hand,  many  men 
and  women  who  cut  down  their  fitness  and  ul- 
timate efficiency  by  continually  overdoing  and 
never  allowing  themselves  a  good  time.  They 
go  to  the  other  extreme. 

I  know  self-made  men  who  formed  such  iron 
habits  of  work  when  they  started  as  poor  boys, 
when  their  success  depended  upon  working  a 
great  many  hours  every  day,  that  they  have 
become  slaves  to  the  habit.  No  matter  whether 
they  feel  like  it  or  not,  they  compel  themselves 
to  remain  in  their  offices  or  factories  just  so 
many  hours  a  day,  when,  perhaps,  three- 
fourths  of  the  time  they  are  merely  mechan- 
ically forcing  their  brains  to  do  very  ordinary 
work.  They  could  accomplish  more  and  bet- 
ter work  in  less  than  half  the  time  with  fresh, 
vigorous  brains  and  minds  elastic  and  spon- 
taneous. They  do  not  realize  that  a  mind  that 
is  habitually  held  to  its  task  by  will-power  for 
long  hours  after  a  time  becomes  permanently 
injured  by  losing  its  spring  or  resilience,  just 
as  a  bow  would  lose  its  power  to  rebound  if  it 
were  always  strung. 

These  men  know  this  principle  very  well, 
and  they  can  see  that  their  friends  who  are 


Keeping  Fit  13 


doing  the  same  thing  are  making  a  great  mis- 
take in  straining  so,  in  not  going  away  now 
and  then  to  get  freshened  up  or  renew^ed,  with 
a  new  view  of  things  and  a  fresh  outlook  on 
life  and  business.  They  plainly  see  their  neigh- 
bors' mistake  in  not  putting  themselves  in  the 
way  of  that  rejuvenation  which  comes  from  an 
entire  change  of  environment. 

Business  men  often  give  as  an  excuse  for 
always  grinding  at  their  work  and  for  too 
seldom  taking  vacations  that  they  haven't  time, 
but  when  they  do  have  a  little  leisure  they  will 
surely  take  "a  day  or  two  off." 

Is  there  any  shorter-sighted  policy  than  for 
one  to  overwork  and  strain,  to  plod  away  for 
months  and  years  with  dull  mental  tools,  and 
to  plead  as  an  excuse  that  he  can't  afford  to 
take  time  to  sharpen  them,  thus  putting  him- 
self in  a  state  of  physical  and  mental  fitness? 

What  a  strange  thing  that  a  long-headed, 
shrewd  business  man  cannot  see  the  deterior- 
ated product  of  his  exhausted  mind;  cannot 
see  that  the  everlasting  grinding  of  work  out  of 
tired  brains  and  dull,  jaded  faculties  is  very 
poor  business ! 

One  of  the  greatest  dangers  in  our  strenu- 


14  Keeping  Fit 


ous  American  life  is  the  temptation  to  over- 
strain under  high  pressure.  Men  are  contin- 
ually overdrawing  their  physical  bank  accounts 
by  using  up  their  reserve  capital,  and  before 
they  realize  it  they  become  physically  bank- 
rupt. 

As  a  very  noted  medical  authority  said  re- 
cently :  "While  we  do  know  a  great  deal  more 
about  hygiene  and  have  been  able  to  conquer 
many  diseases,  especially  infectious  diseases, 
which  formerly,  through  our  ignorance,  carried 
away  vast  multitudes  of  human  beings  every 
year,  yet  the  increased  cost  of  living,  the 
greater  struggle  for  existence,  our  more  ex- 
citing, more  strenuous,  nerve-racking  life  have 
increased  our  vitality  tension,  nerve  tension, 
and  brain  tension.  As  a  consequence,  our  wor- 
ries, anxieties,  and  cares  are  greatly  augment- 
ed. The  wear  and  tear  of  life  is  greater  than 
formerly  because  we  are  living  a  more  com- 
plex life  and  are  getting  farther  and  farther 
away  from  the  simple  things  of  other  days." 

Anything  which  tends  to  lower  our  vitality 
or  sap  our  energy  cuts  down,  by  so  much,  our 
efficiency  and  possibilities. 

Perfect  health  is  a  great  discoverer  of  abil- 


Keeping  Fit  15 


ity.  It  brings  out  resourcefulness,  inventive- 
ness, and  initiative,  which  would  be  covered  up 
and  buried  by  poor  health.  Physical  and  men- 
tal fitness  means  new  hope,  new  life,  new 
power.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of  ability  lost 
to  the  world  through  poor  health,  through  not 
keeping  in  condition  to  give  out  the  best  that 
is  enfolded  in  us. 

There  are  many  people  of  a  high  order  of 
ability  who  do  very  ordinary  work  in  life  and 
whose  careers  are  most  disappointing,  simply 
because  they  do  not  keep  themselves  in  phys- 
ical and  mental  condition  to  do  their  best. 

I  know  men  in  middle  life  who  are  just 
where  they  were  when  they  left  school  or  col- 
lege. They  have  not  advanced  a  particle ;  some 
have  even  retrograded,  and  they  cannot  under- 
stand why  they  do  not  get  on,  why  they  are 
not  more  successful.  But  every  one  who  knows 
them  sees  the  great  handicaps  of  indifference 
to  their  health,  neglect  of  their  physical  needs, 
dissipation,  irregular  living,  slipshod,  slovenly 
habits,  and  other  unfortunate  things  which  are 
keeping  them  down — handicaps  with  which 
even  intellectual  giants  could  not  drag  along 
and  make  much  progress. 


16  Keeping  Fit 


In  every  walk  of  life  we  see  people  plodding 
along  in  mediocrity,  capable  of  great  things, 
but  doing  little  things,  because  they  have  not 
vitality  enough  to  push  their  way  and  over- 
come the  obstacles  in  their  path.  They  have 
not  kept  themselves  fit. 

Most  of  us  are  our  own  worst  enemies.  We 
expect  a  great  deal  of  ourselves,  yet  we  do  not 
put  ourselves  in  a  condition  to  achieve.  We 
are  either  too  indulgent  to  our  bodies,  or  we 
are  not  indulgent  enough.  We  pamper  them 
or  we  neglect  them,  and  it  would  be  hard  to 
tell  which  mode  of  treatment  produces  the 
worst  results. 

How  humiliating  to  feel  ambition  throbbing 
within  us  to  do  a  great  thing,  to  feel  conscious 
of  ability  to  accomplish  it,  yet  to  be  prevented 
by  lack  of  physical  stamina,  staying  power,  vi- 
tality !  What  a  deplorable  thing  to  come  with- 
in sight  of  one's  goal  and  suffer  the  pangs  of 
thwarted  ambition  because  of  poor  health! 

There  are  tens  of  thousands  of  people  who 
are  almost  successful,  who  have  almost  done 
the  things  they  started  out  to  do,  but  who  can- 
not get  any  farther  because  their  health  has 
broken  down;  or,  it  may  be,  because  of  some 


Keeping  Fit  17 


physical  weakness  or  diseased  organs,  due  often 
to  eating  wrong  things  through  ignorance, 
when  scientific  food  and  scientific  Hving  would 
not  only  have  carried  them  to  the  goal,  but 
would  also  have  brought  them  there  in  superb 
condition. 

It  is  no  less  sad  to  see  people  reach  their 
goals  in  an  exhausted,  played-out  condition, 
with  health  ruined ;  so  that,  although  they  have 
achieved  their  ambition,  the  power  of  enjoy- 
ment is  gone. 

No  one  can  amount  to  much  in  this  world 
until  he  has  had  an  understanding  with  him- 
self that  he  is  going  to  stand  for  something, 
that  he  is  going  to  make  a  man  of  himself; 
until  he  resolves  not  to  be  satisfied  with  a  half- 
life  or  a  cheap  success,  for  he  is  going  to  play 
the  part  of  a  man,  going  to  make  good,  no 
matter  what  the  cost  in  effort,  no  matter  what 
the  sacrifice  of  ease  and  pleasure.  But  he  must 
never  forget  that  the  basis  of  all  achievement 
is  health;  that,  even  if  he  reaches  the  goal  of 
his  ambition  and  leaves  his  health  on  the  way, 
he  is  not  a  real  success. 

The  first  requisite  of  success  and  happiness 
for  every  human  being  is  to  be  a  first-class 


18  Keeping  Fit 


animal.  One  can  accomplish  wonderful  things 
with  no  other  capital  than  robust  health  and 
determination  to  make  something  of  oneself; 
but,  no  matter  how  much  ambition  one  has,  if 
he  ruins  his  health  by  neglect,  or  by  vicious 
habits ;  if  he  devitalizes  himself  by  an  abnormal 
or  irregular  life,  he  should  know  that  his  only 
chance  of  accomplishing  anything  very  impor- 
tant will  soon  be  gone.  Unless  one  keeps  him- 
self at  the  top  of  his  condition,  the  best  that 
is  in  him  will  not  respond  to  his  efforts.  He 
must  be  satisfied  with  even  second  or  third  best 
results  if  his  physical  condition  is  run  down, 
if  his  vitality  is  lowered  by  violating  the  laws 
of  existence  or  by  irregularities  of  living. 

A  stream  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  foun- 
tain head.  If  one's  physical  condition  is  low, 
if  he  is  devitalized,  his  ambition  suffers,  his 
ideals  are  lowered,  his  energies  lag,  and  his 
work  is  poor.  As  a  general  rule,  our  physical 
condition  is  reflected  in  everything  we  do.  If 
the  mind  is  cloudy  or  suffering  or  affected  by 
weakness  or  disease,  the  condition  is  reflected 
in  the  work.  Everything  in  a  man  corresponds 
with  his  physical  condition.  All  of  his  defects 
or  weaknesses  of  this  kind  will  reappear  in 


Keeping  Fit  19 


whatever  he  does,  and  his  mental  condition 
will  always  harmonize  with  his  physical  state. 

Yet  how  often  we  see  young  people  start- 
ing out  in  life  with  great  ambitions  to  make 
places  for  themselves  in  the  world  and  to  do 
things  worth  while,  but  all  the  time  really 
ruining  their  possibilities  of  great  accomplish- 
ment by  ignoring  the  laws  of  health,  in  all 
sorts  of  ways  lowering  their  physical  status, 
enfeebling  themselves  so  that  they  do  not  have 
sufficient  power  to  attain  their  ideals.  The 
very  thing  that  they  are  most  dependent  upon 
for  attaining  their  object,  strong  and  vigor- 
ous vitality,  they  sacrifice. 

Keeping  fit  for  our  work  is  the  most  su- 
perb thing  that  we  can  do,  because  upon  it 
depends  our  efficiency,  happiness,  and  useful- 
ness. Few  people  fully  realize  this.  They  do 
not  appreciate  the  tremendous  influence  of 
health  upon  ambition.  When  you  are  strong 
and  vigorous,  and  have  a  robust  appetite,  you 
feel  equal  to  almost  any  undertaking.  Obsta- 
cles do  not  seem  very  forbidding;  your  courage 
is  as  vigorous  as  your  health.  But  when  your 
vitality  drops,  your  courage  drops  with  it. 
Things  which  did  not  worry  you  a  little  while 


20  Keeping  Fit 


ago,  when  you  were  strong  and  vigorous,  now 
look  formidable.  They  loom  up  like  moun- 
tains of  difficulty. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  going 
to  your  work  in  the  morning  in  superb  condi- 
tion, so  that  you  are  full  of  enthusiasm,  buoy- 
ancy of  spirit,  eagerness,  and  zest,  approaching 
it  with  a  great  love  for  your  work,  with  your 
heart  in  it,  ambitious  to  excel  in  it  and  to 
make  every  minute  count,  and  going  to  it 
with  low  vitality,  with  the  brain  weary,  jaded 
from  bad  habits  and  lack  of  sleep,  with  the 
brain  badly  nourished  with  improper  food,  or 
with  the  digestion  entirely  upset  by  overeating 
or  eating  rich  and  indigestible  foods. 

The  great  thing  in  life  is  efficiency.  If  you 
would  be  efficient  you  must  keep  fit  by  cutting 
away  all  of  your  health-sappers,  getting  rid  of 
everything  which  hampers  you  and  holds  you 
back,  everything  which  wastes  your  vitality 
and  cuts  down  your  working  capital. 

Most  people  do  not  realize  how  many  little 
leaks  are  constantly  draining  off  their  life 
forces  and  cutting  down  by  so  much  their 
power  to  keep  fit. 

Thousands  use  up  more  of  their  brain  power 


Keeping  Fit  21 


and  nervous  energy  in  impatience,  in  hurrying 
and  in  worrying,  than  they  expend  in  actual 
work. 

Victims  of  the  hurry  habit,  of  the  hurry 
thought,  are  ineffective,  never  fit,  never  at  their 
best,  because  they  cannot  concentrate  their 
minds  on  the  present:  they  are  always  "living 
in  the  next  minute."  Their  thoughts  and 
acts  are  always  rushing  and  pushing  ahead. 
The  result  is,  their  work  is  very  superficial 
because  they  do  not  concentrate  upon  the 
thing  in  hand.  They  are  always  in  a  hurry 
and  yet  they  accomplish  very  little,  because 
they  never  give  the  whole  of  themselves  to  their 
tasks. 

Indecision  is  also  a  great  waster  of  power. 
People  who  are  always  weighing,  balancing, 
and  reconsidering  little  dream  that  they  are 
thus  squandering  a  lot  of  precious  health  capi- 
tal. How  many,  too,  burn  up  in  fierce  gusts 
of  passion,  or  dribble  away  in  nagging,  bicker- 
ing, or  needless  faultfinding,  a  large  amount 
of  brain  power  and  physical  vitality  that 
might  be  used  not  only  to  great  advantage 
in  bettering  their  condition  but  also  the  condi- 
tion of  those  whose  lives  they  touch. 


22  Keeping  Fit 


A  morbid  idea,  such  as  hatred,  envy,  or 
jealousy  long  harbored  in  the  mind  acts  like  a 
poison-leaven  and  works  its  way  through  the 
entire  system,  injuring  the  whole  life.  The 
majority  of  people  have  very  little  conception 
of  the  fearful  destructiveness  of  thoughts  of 
hatred  or  revenge.  They  are  like  great  fester- 
ing sore  centers,  distributing  their  poisons  to 
every  part  of  the  body,  while  their  evil  in- 
fluence on  the  mind  cannot  be  estimated.  We 
should  always  be  on  the  watch  to  stamp  out 
such  thoughts ;  also  other  morbid,  gloomy  ideas 
which  so  frequently  attack  us.  We  all  know 
how  religious  morbidities  unbalance  the  mind. 
It  doesn't  matter  how  sacred  the  subject  which 
possesses  us;  if  we  allow  ourselves  to  become 
morbid  over  it,  it  unbalances  us  just  the  same; 
the  tendency  of  morbidity  is  always  to  un- 
settle the  mind. 

It  is  now  well  known  that  extreme  selfish- 
ness, envy,  and  jealousy  will  produce  neuralgic 
headaches  and  other  mental  and  physical  dis- 
turbances. But  perhaps  the  most  destructive 
of  all  these  vitality  leaks,  in  its  effects  on  the 
physical  and  mental  system,  is  a  violent,  un- 
controlled temper.     If  people  only  knew  what 


Keeping  Fit  23 


tremendous  havoc  a  fit  of  anger  works  in  the 
delicate  nervous  system,  and  the  really  danger- 
ous results  of  an  unchecked  storm  of  passion, 
they  never  again  could  be  tempted  to  yield 
to  it. 

In  an  instant  the  nerves  surrounding  the 
blood  vessels  are  paralyzed  by  the  mental 
shock  of  a  sudden  burst  of  anger  and  the  blood 
rushes  into  the  brain  with  such  terrific  force 
that  sometimes  a  blood  vessel  is  ruptured  and 
death  is  almost  instantaneous.  Dr.  John 
Hunter,  one  of  the  greatest  surgeons  that  ever 
lived,  died  in  the  board-room  of  St.  George's 
Hospital,  London,  in  a  fit  of  anger.  One  of 
his  colleagues  intimated  that  something  he,  Dr. 
Hunter,  had  said  was  untrue.  The  insinua- 
tion aroused  a  temper  storm  that  precipitated 
an  acute  attack  of  angina  pectoris,  from  which 
he  was  suffering,  and  almost  in  an  instant  he 
fell  dead. 

A  noted  Paris  physician  reports  a  case  of  a 
young  man  who,  in  a  violent  quarrel  with  his 
relatives,  worked  himself  up  into  such  a  fearful 
passion  that  he  became  suddenly  deaf.  It  is 
not  an  unusual  thing  for  a  severe  attack  of 
jaundice  to  follow  a  violent  fit  of  anger.     Peo- 


24  Keeping  Fit 


pie  little  realize  how  their  very  lives  are  en- 
dangered, how  their  health  is  often  seriously 
impaired,  and  how  many  habitually  suffer 
from  semi-invalidism,  because  they  are  con- 
stantly giving  way  to  these  anger  fits. 

We  are  just  beginning  to  find  that  what  we 
always  regarded  as  minor  things,  such  as  our 
fits  of  temper,  our  frettings,  our  anxieties,  our 
fears,  our  petty  jealousies,  or  our  revengeful 
thoughts,  are  in  reality  very  formidable  foes, — 
enemies  of  our  mental  poise  and  balance,  ene- 
mies of  our  fitness,  which  is  power.  These  are 
the  things  which  keep  us  unfit. 

The  worry  leaks,  the  fear  leaks,  the  anxiety 
leaks,  the  hot-temper  leaks,  the  dissipation 
leaks,  the  leaks  from  sleeplessness  and  lack  of 
system,  the  jealousy  leaks  are  all  draining 
away  precious  power  and  reducing  our  mental 
and  physical  fitness  for  the  important  tasks  of 
life.  They  are  all  the  time  cutting  down  our 
vitality  and  our  initiative,  weakening  our  con- 
fidence and  courage.  Under  their  influence 
every  faculty  deteriorates  in  power,  in  force- 
fulness. 

How  many  of  us  go  through  life  wondering 
why  we  do  not  get  on  faster,  wondering  what 


Keeping  Fit  25 


it  is  that  holds  us  down  when  we  try  so  hard 
to  get  on!  We  are  always  looking  over  and 
blaming  some  fundamental  thing  that  is  block- 
ing our  progress,  handicapping  our  career, 
when  in  reality  it  is  often  a  multitude  of  these 
little  enemies  of  which  we  take  no  note,  and 
think  of  very  seldom,  which  are  neutralizing 
our  advantages.  In  the  first  place,  all  those 
things  seriously  affect  our  health.  Whatever 
disturbs  us,  or  destroys  mental  harmony,  does 
corresponding  harm  in  the  body.  Whatever 
exercises  a  malign  influence  on  the  health,  will 
do  the  same  thing  to  the  mind,  and  vice  versa. 
It  is  now  well  known  that  thought  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  brain,  for  we  think  all  over  the  en- 
tire nervous  system;  in  fact,  every  cell  in  the 
body  participates  in  our  thinking. 

All  these  enemies  must  be  eradicated,  routed 
out  of  the  nature  before  we  can  be  at  the  top 
of  our  condition,  be  perfectly  fit,  healthy,  har- 
monious, and  effective.  We  must  cut  out  all 
disease-bearing  morbidities;  rout  out  of  life's 
garden  all  disease  weeds  or  other  rank  growths, 
physical  or  mental,  which  are  poisoning  every- 
thing that  is  beautiful  and  fruitful. 

Perfect    health,    which    is    perfect    fitness, 


26  Keeping  Fit 


means  also  perfect  morals.  A  person  cannot 
be  perfectly  healthy  and  yet  be  morally  bad. 
If  we  practice  dishonesty,  if  we  are  envious  or 
revengeful,  we  cannot  be  perfectly  healthy, 
because  perfect  health  means  physical  and 
mental  harmony. 

The  physical  functions  are  very  largely  de- 
pendent upon  both  the  mental  and  the  moral 
condition.  A  person,  for  example,  who  is  suf- 
fering the  pangs  of  remorse  for  some  wicked 
deed,  cannot  be  thoroughly  healthy.  Some- 
times, it  is  true,  we  see  vicious  characters  who 
are  physically  strong,  robust;  but  that  is  not 
enough  for  the  man  God  made.  The  spirit- 
ual nature  must  match  the  physical.  Perfect 
health  means  perfect  wholeness,  and  no  one  is 
whole,  complete,  who  is  not  happy ;  and  no  one 
is  happy  whose  conscience  is  all  the  time  tor- 
turing him.  A  very  wicked  person  may  have 
good  digestion  and  appear  physically  to  be 
well,  but  he  is  not  whole  and  such  a  person 
does  not,  as  a  rule,  attain  a  ripe  old  age.  More- 
over, he  does  not  attain  the  purpose  of  life.  In- 
stead of  being  of  use  to  society,  which  is  the 
duty  of  every  human  being,  he  is  a  curse  to 
himself  and  to  the  world. 


Keeping  Fit  27 


Keeping  fit  is  the  result  of  healthful  habits, 
— right  habits  of  living,  right  habits  of  think- 
ing. It  is  the  product  of  regularity  of  life, 
regular  sleep,  in  full  sufficiency,  regular  recre- 
ation, and  plenty  of  it,  regular  exercise  in  the 
open  air,  habits  of  neatness  and  cleanliness 
and  orderliness,  habits  which  contribute  to  self- 
respect  and  make  us  think  more  of  ourselves; 
and,  above  all  else,  these  should  be  combined 
with  a  habit  of  wise  and  systematic  eating  and 
drinking  and  an  intelligent  choice  of  food 
which  shall  contain  all  the  elements,  in  proper 
proportion,  requisite  to  build  up  and  maintain 
the  different  organs  and  tissues  of  the  body, — 
food  which  will  produce  vigor,  food  which  has 
stored  up  in  it  the  forces  of  nature  which  pro- 
duce energy,  brain  power,  vigor  of  thought, 
grasp  of  intellect. 

In  the  work  of  keeping  fit  our  thought-food 
is,  next  to  our  physical  food,  the  great  mind 
and  body  builder. 

If  you  would  keep  fit,  never  picture  your- 
self as  anything  different  from  what  you  would 
actually  be,  the  man  or  woman  you  long  to  be- 
come. Whenever  you  think  of  yourself,  form 
a  mental  image  of  a  perfect,  healthy,  beautiful. 


28  Keeping  Fit 


noble  being,  not  lacking  in  anything,  but  pos- 
sessing every  desirable  quality.  Insist  upon 
seeing  only  the  truth  of  your  being,  the  man  or 
woman  God  had  in  mind  when  He  made  you. 

There  is  every  evidence  in  the  human  plan 
that  He  intended  man  to  express  completeness, 
wholeness, — not  a  half  or  other  fraction  of 
himself;  a  hundred,  not  twenty-five  or  fifty 
per  cent,  of  his  possibilities;  to  express  excel- 
lence, not  mediocrity,  and  that  the  half  lives 
and  quarter  lives  which  we  see  everywhere  are 
abnormal. 

One  of  the  hardest  lessons  we  have  to  learn 
in  keeping  fit  is  that  we  build  our  bodies  by 
our  thoughts  as  much  as  by  our  material  food. 
It  is  a  literal  fact  that  man  does  not  live  by 
bread  alone ;  our  bodies  are  discordant  or  har- 
monious, diseased  or  healthy,  in  accordance 
with  our  habitual  thought.  There  are  those 
who,  having  learned  this  lesson,  have  had  their 
countenances  so  altered  in  a  single  year  by  per- 
sistent right-thinking  that  one  would  scarcely 
know  them.  They  have  changed  faces  that 
were  lined  with  doubt,  disfigured  with  fear  and 
anxiety,  and  scarred  by  worry  or  vice,  to  re- 
flectors of  hope,  cheer,  and  joy. 


Keeping  Fit  29 


Saint  Paul  was  scientific  when  he  said:  "Be 
ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your 
minds ;"  that  is,  by  changing,  ennobling,  puri- 
fying and  freshening  one's  thoughts. 

Keeping  fit  means  that  the  mind  shall  be  as 
clean,  pure,  and  healthy  as  the  body.  It  is 
every  one's  sacred  duty  to  keep  himself  fit,  up 
to  the  highest  possible  standard,  physically  and 
mentally;  otherwise  he  cannot  deliver  his  di- 
vine message,  in  its  entirety,  to  the  world.  It 
is  every  one's  sacred  duty  to  keep  himself  in  a 
condition  to  do  the  biggest  thing  possible  to 
him. 


II 


THE   MIRACLE   OF   FOOD 

Here  is  bread,  which  strengthens  man's  heart,  and  therefore 
is  called  the  staflf  of  life. — Matthew   Henry. 

O  hour  of  all  hours,  the  most  blessed  upon  earth, 
The  blessed  hour  of  our  dinners ! — Owek  Meredith. 

Cheese  and  bread  make  the  cheeks  red. 

— German  Proverb. 

Behold  a  crust  of  bread  and  a  jug  of  water 
let  down  into  Bunyan's  cell,  which  a  little  later 
appear  in  the  greatest  allegory  that  was  ever 
written  by  man ! 

Watch  that  crust  of  bread  as  it  is  cut, 
crushed,  ground,  driven  by  muscles,  dissolved 
by  acids  and  alkalies ;  absorbed  and  hurled  into 
the  mysterious  red  river  of  the  man's  life  blood ! 
Scores  of  little  factories  along  this  wonderful 
river,  waiting  for  this  crust,  transmute  it  as 
it  passes,  as  if  by  magic,  here  into  a  bone  cell, 
there  into  gastric  juice,  here  into  bile,  there 
into  a  nerve  cell,  yonder  into  a  brain  cell.  We 
cannot  trace  the  process  by  which  it  arrives  at 
the  muscle  and  acts,  arrives  at  the  brain  and 

30 


The  Miracle  of  Food  31 

ttiinks.  We  cannot  see  the  manipulating  hand 
which  throws  back  and  forth  the  shuttle  which 
weaves  Bunyan's  destinies,  nor  can  we  trace 
the  subtle  alchemy  which  transforms  this 
prison  crust  into  "Pilgrim's  Progress."  But 
we  do  know  that,  unless  we  supply  food  when 
the  stomach  begs  and  clamors,  brain  and  mus- 
cle cannot  continue  to  act;  and  we  also  know 
that,  unless  the  food  is  properly  chosen,  unless 
we  eat  it  properly,  unless  we  maintain  good 
digestion  by  exercise  of  mind  and  body,  it  will 
not  produce  the  allegories  of  a  Bunyan,  the 
energy  and  achievements  of  a  Roosevelt,  the 
inventions  of  a  Marconi,  an  Edison,  or  the 
successes  of  a  great  constructive  man  of  busi- 
ness. 

The  age  of  miracles  past !  Why,  there  is  a 
miracle  performed  at  every  meal  which  is  more 
mysterious  than  the  raising  of  the  dead  to  life ! 
You  take  a  piece  of  bread,  a  piece  of  meat,  a 
few  vegetables  into  your  mouth,  and  in  a  few 
hours  they  become  man;  they  begin  to  think, 
they  begin  to  act;  that  food  takes  on  all  the 
characteristics  of  your  personality.  Your  an- 
cestors relive  and  act  in  it.  What  was  a  few 
hours  ago  food  is  now  making  laws  in  Con- 


32  Keeping  Fit 


gress,  is  passing  decisions  upon  the  bench,  is 
farming,  is  running  machinery,  is  doing  all 
sorts  of  things.  Is  the  quality,  the  quantity, 
the  manner  of  partaking  of  the  nourishing  ma- 
terial which  is  to  perform  the  miracles  of  the 
world  of  any  great  consequence?  Is  it  worth 
much  concern? 

Part  of  your  efficiency,  your  health,  your 
mental  vigor,  your  future  welfare,  lives  in  that 
meal  of  which  you  are  about  to  partake.  Can 
you  afford  to  take  in  material  which  is  going 
to  give  you  deteriorated  blood?  Can  you  af- 
ford to  take  in  that  which  will  give  you  a 
second-class  brain  and  can  only  manufacture 
mental  processes  in  keeping  with  its  own  in- 
ferior quality? 

Your  food  can  give  off,  when  assimilated  in 
the  body,  only  the  force  which  Nature  has 
stored  up  in  its  cells. 

You  may  say  it  does  not  matter  much  what 
you  eat, — so  long  as  it  satisfies  your  hunger. 
Do  you  realize  that  the  cells  in  that  stale  vege- 
table and  soft,  spongy  fruit,  which  has  already 
begun  to  decay,  and  the  poor  meat  you  are  eat- 
ing, are  much  deteriorated ;  that  they  have  lost 
their  recuperative,  renewing,  refreshing  force? 


The  Miracle  of  Food  33 

Do  you  realize  that  while  you  may  satisfy  hun- 
ger, you  are  manufacturing  second-class  blood, 
a  second-class  brain,  a  second-class  nerve  tissue, 
a  second-class  man?  And  you  want  to  be  a 
first-class  man,  do  you  not?  As  a  man  eateth, 
so  is  he.  As  he  eats,  so  will  he  live,  so  will  his 
strength  be. 

You  have  wondered,  no  doubt,  many  times, 
why  you  lack  power  to  concentrate  your  mind, 
to  hold  your  mental  grip  upon  the  thing  you 
are  doing.  You  perhaps  have  not  realized 
that  the  quality  of  your  intellectual  grasp,  of 
your  focusing  power,  lies  in  your  food.  The 
quality  of  your  vitality,  of  your  brain  power, 
the  quality  of  your  courage,  of  your  initiative, 
of  your  productive  power,  will  be  in  exact  ratio 
to  the  quality  of  the  material  from  which  these 
are  manufactured.  The  quality  of  the  manu- 
factured product  cannot  excel  the  quality  of 
the  raw  material. 

The  fire  and  force,  the  vim  for  achievement, 
are  put  into  our  food  by  the  power  of  the  sun 
and  the  chemistry  of  the  soil.  The  strength 
for  which  we  long,  the  force  which  does  things, 
the  stamina,  the  grit,  the  brawn,  and  what  we 
call  "gray  matter,"  Nature  produces  in  her 


34  Keeping  Fit 


laboratory,  where  she  performs  her  wonderful 
miracles. 

The  roots  of  our  spiritual  life  run  through 
the  material  body  into  the  food  stuffs,  into  the 
soil,  and  outward  to  the  source  of  all  physical 
power,  the  sun.  We  are  bound  up  together; 
we  are  of  the  earth,  earthy.  We  come  from 
Nature ;  we  return  to  Nature.  All  vital  energy 
is  generated  in  the  sun;  Nature's  alchemy 
takes  the  vital  energy  and  recreates  it  in  food 
products  which  we  receive  from  her  and  as- 
similate, and  from  which  comes  the  abundance 
of  our  achievements,  our  spiritual  life. 

The  brain  gets  a  great  deal  of  credit  for 
what  justly  belongs  to  good  health,  to  a  strong 
physique.  ''Intense,  rapid,  sustained T  is  the 
motto  of  effective  mentality.  It  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of  will-power  so  much  as  of  vitality  and 
strength.  Robust  health  produces  a  positive 
intellectuality,  and  this  is  the  force  that  does 
things  in  the  world;  whereas,  in  proportion  to 
failing  health,  to  lowered  vitality,  the  mind  be- 
comes negative. 

The  man  who  accomplishes  things  is  noted 
for  his  ability  to  decide  matters  vigorously  and 
finally;  while  the  vacillator  is  pained  at  the 


The  Miracle  of  Food  35 

very  thought  that  he  must  make  a  final  deci- 
sion, and  is  always  reconsidering,  weighing  and 
balancing,  recalling  his  letters,  tearing  open 
the  seals  to  see  whether  he  has  really  meant 
what  he  has  written,  whether  it  were  wise  to 
send  the  letter,  after  all,  or  whether  he  has  left 
out  something  important.  But  the  man  of  de- 
cision is  the  man  who  succeeds,  and  decision 
is  the  child  of  strong  vitality,  of  a  well  nour- 
ished brain. 

Is  it  not  astonishing  that,  despite  these  facts, 
in  our  efforts  to  economize,  we  often  lose  ten- 
fold by  cutting  off  our  nutrition,  in  going  with- 
out lunches,  or  bolting  inferior  food  at  a  cheap 
quick-lunch  counter?  By  trying  to  save  a  few 
cents  a  day  in  this  way  we  cut  off  ten  dollars' 
worth  of  vitality.  We  may  reduce  our  busi- 
ness-getting ability  by  dulling  the  ambition,  so 
that  we  may  lose  a  hundred  dollars'  worth  of 
business. 

When  we  skimp  on  food  we  do  so  at  the  cost 
of  power  and  vitality.  If  the  body  is  not  com- 
pletely nourished,  the  blood  will  be  impover- 
ished, or  made  impure;  and  vitiated  blood 
means  poor  quality  of  thinking,  than  which 
nothing  can  be  more  extravagant. 


36  Keeping  Fit 


The  great  thing  is  to  keep  oneself  up  to  the 
highest  point  of  efficiency  at  any  cost  or  pains. 
Anything  which  reduces  the  fire  and  force  in 
the  brain,  which  lessens  the  ambition  or  the 
energy,  weakens  will-power,  courage,  self-con- 
fidence, inclination  to  work,  initiative,  and 
power  of  decision.  In  fact,  the  whole  mental 
apparatus,  the  efficiency  of  the  whole  of  life's 
machinery,  is  affected.  Such  economies  are 
criminal. 

One  might  as  well  try  to  economize  on  the 
board  of  a  horse  about  to  enter  a  contest  of 
speed,  and  expect  him  to  win,  as  to  economize 
on  his  own  food  and  expect  to  remain  in  tiptop 
condition.  Speed  and  staying  power  are  what 
he  is  after  for  the  horse,  and  these  must  come 
mostly  from  the  food,  the  drink,  and  the  gen- 
eral care. 

Every  ambitious  man  is  in  a  perpetual  race 
for  supremacy  of  some  kind.  Can  he  afford 
to  economize  on  that  which  produces  brain 
force,  that  which  produces  health?  Can  he 
afford  to  economize  on  energy-producing 
material  ? 

Many  well-meaning  people  fail  in  life  be- 
cause they  are  not  good  to  themselves.     They 


The  Miracle  of  Food  37 

do  not  have  enough  to  eat,  or  they  do  not 
have  food  of  the  requisite  quality  to  keep  their 
brains  and  bodies  up  to  the  highest  point  of 
efficiency. 

We  are  not  here  simply  to  exist,  but  to 
achieve  the  greatest  thing  possible  to  us,  and 
we  cannot  afford  to  deny  ourselves  the  best  of 
everything  that  can  contribute  to  our  efficiency. 
Multitudes  are  doing  mediocre  work  just  be- 
cause they  do  not  have  the  highest  quality  of 
brain  food.  They  do  not  take  proper  care  of 
themselves. 

I  know  fairly  well-to-do  people  who  are  too 
stingy  to  buy  fruit,  except  when  it  is  very 
cheap,  although  it  is  necessary  to  health;  for 
it  is  not  only  a  blood  purifier,  but  it  is  also  a 
blood-maker.  Nothing  else  is  better  for  the 
system  than  good  ripe  fruit;  and,  no  matter 
how  scarce  or  high  in  price  every  one  should 
have  some  at  least  every  day.  Many  people, 
without  knowing  it,  are  pinching  their  very  life 
sources  by  foolish  economies, — eating  poor, 
tough  meats,  dried-up  or  half-matured  or 
wilted  vegetables,  cheap,  adulterated  teas,  cof- 
fees, spices,  etc. 

Now,  every  one  ought  to  start  out  in  life  with 


38  Keeping  Fit 


a  determination  to  be  good  to  himself,  just  to 
himself.  He  ought  to  resolve  not  to  cheat 
his  very  source  of  power  by  feeding  his  body 
w^ith  inferior  products.  Pinching  on  the  very 
source  of  one's  supply  of  mental  and  physical 
power  is  fatal  frugality.  There  is  a  great 
difference  between  the  results  of  first-class  and 
second-class  brain  power,  and  it  is  the  quality 
of  the  food  that  often  makes  the  difference. 

Failure  is  frequently  due  to  mental  deteri- 
oration, to  weakening  of  courage,  of  self-confi- 
dence and  of  mental  grasp,  so  that  men  make 
business  slips  which  they  would  not  have  made 
formerly.  They  have  deteriorated  physically, 
and  they  do  not  realize  that  their  minds  go  up 
and  down  with  their  physical  condition  like  the 
mercury  in  a  thermometer. 

The  unfortunate  thing  about  mental  deteri- 
oration which  follows  the  violation  of  physical 
laws  is  that  it  is  so  subtle  as  to  be  almost  im- 
perceptible, and  people  who  have  been  success- 
ful are  often  suddenly  confronted  with  failure 
because  of  the  loss  of  their  mental  grip,  the 
crippling  of  their  courage  and  initiative. 

Napoleon's  downfall  was  largely  due  to  phy- 
sical deterioration.     In  youth  he  had  given 


The  Miracle  of  Food  39 

much  thought  to  diet,  as  a  means  of  making 
the  most  of  himself,  but  the  subject  was  then 
but  vaguely  understood.  Even  as  some  sav- 
ages think  that  the  spirit  of  a  conquered  foe 
passes  over  into  them  and  strengthens  them, 
so  he  looked  upon  food.  The  stronger  the  ani- 
mal eaten,  the  stronger  the  eater  should  be- 
come. Hence  he  who  would  become  king  of 
all  the  Giant-killer  Jacks  should  eat  elephants, 
the  largest  and  strongest  of  land  animals.  But 
elephants  were  scarce  and  costly  in  France, 
and  his  purse  was  not  that  of  a  multimillion- 
aire. 

An  ox  was  the  nearest  substitute  he  could 
think  of  obtainable  at  a  moderate  price,  and 
oxen  were  slaughtered  for  the  army  every  day. 
But  even  an  ox  could  not  be  considered  a  full 
substitute,  so  he  must  exercise  care  and  eat  the 
strongest  part  of  him  and  thus  approximate 
his  ideal  standard  as  closely  as  possible.  This 
strongest  of  all  parts  must  clearly  be  the  brain, 
for  that  rules  all  the  rest  of  the  animal.  So  he 
had  saved  and  cooked  for  him,  and  daily  ate, 
the  brain  of  an  ox. 

Now  it  so  happens  that  iron,  lime,  and  sul- 
phur are  indispensable  in  the  formation  of  red 


40  Keeping  Fit 


blood  corpuscles,  and  lime  and  sulphur  are  not 
found  in  brain  substance.  It  also  happens 
that  sulphur  is  one  of  the  best  medicines  for 
the  itch,  and  probably,  through  its  presence  in 
the  blood  in  proper  quantities,  one  of  the  best 
preventives  of  that  disease,  at  least  in  a  severe 
form.  Possibly  because  of  his  deficiency  in 
sulphur,  incidental  to  his  peculiar  diet,  he 
caught  or  developed  at  Toulon  the  itch  in  an 
aggravated  form,  which  annoyed  him  greatly 
for  years.  His  physicians  tried  in  vain  to 
cure  him,  and  repeatedly  urged  him  to  allow 
them  to  "drive  it  in." 

To  this  he  would  not  consent,  for  a  long 
time,  saying  that  the  itch  is  but  an  outward 
manifestation  of  an  effort  of  Nature  to  get  rid 
of  something  bad  inside.  For  his  part  he  was 
glad  that  his  system  was  so  resistant  and  per- 
sistent in  trying  to  throw  off  the  bad  thing, 
whatever  it  was,  and  he  wanted  that  cured,  not 
its  mere  itching  manifestation  or  symptom. 
One  might,  he  admitted,  put  an  extinguisher 
on  a  volcano,  but  that  would  only  cause  it  to 
break  out  in  some  other  way  or  place. 

But  at  the  zenith  of  his  power  he  consented, 
for  he  considered  it  very  undignified  for  the 


The  Miracle  of  Food  41 

great  conqueror  of  conquerors  and  emperor  of 
emperors  to  squirm  and  scratch  on  even  the 
greatest  occasions,  and  scratch  he  had  to,  some- 
times, no  matter  what  was  going  on.  He  was 
never  quite  the  same  man  after  he  "conquered 
his  itch  by  driving  it  in." 

He  also  suffered  from  epilepsy,  due,  per- 
haps, in  no  small  degree,  to  his  diet,  for  it  is 
caused  by  insufficiency  of  red  blood  corpuscles 
and  consequent  disturbances  in  the  circulation. 
When  the  itch,  perhaps  a  kind  of  outlet  for  his 
real  trouble,  had  gone,  his  epileptic  attacks  in- 
creased in  frequency  and  severity  and  some- 
times temporarily  incapacitated  him  when  un- 
der greatest  pressure  and  needing  the  strong- 
est and  most  perfect  circulation, — even  before 
or  during  some  of  his  most  important  battles 
in  later  life. 

Further,  he  had  a  very  restless  brain,  and 
this  was  stimulated  to  undue  activity  both  posi- 
tively by  the  excess  of  phosphatic  material  in 
his  dietary,  and  negatively  by  lack  of  nerve- 
quieting  oxygen  in  his  blood  from  deficiency 
of  lime  and  sulphur  in  his  food.  As  Faraday 
discovered,  oxygen  is  slightly  magnetic  and 
hence  is  attracted  by  the  iron  in  the  red  blood 


42  Keeping  Fit 


corpuscles.  When  the  red  corpuscles  are  de- 
ficient in  quantity,  not  enough  oxygen  is  taken 
up  by  this  magnetic  attraction.  So  his  brain, 
like  an  engine  with  an  imperfect  safety  valve, 
drove  the  wheels  of  his  life  at  a  pace  too  furi- 
ous to  last  long  in  perfect  condition.  Again, 
from  lack  of  enough  red  corpuscles,  he  could 
not  absorb  enough  oxygen  to  burn  up  or  oxi- 
dize the  fat  produced  by  his  food,  and  he  be- 
came corpulent.  Worst  of  all,  not  improbably 
the  cancer  of  the  stomach  from  which  he  died  at 
St.  Helena  was  occasioned,  if  not  caused,  by 
lack  of  sulphur  in  his  food. 

Close  observers  have  repeatedly  noted  how 
decayed  limbs  of  trees  or  even  fence  posts  that 
have  stood  in  the  ground  a  long  time,  after  the 
rains  have  soaked  out  their  sulphates  and  warm 
damp  weather  has  developed  their  phosphores- 
cence, have  thrown  out  growths  of  a  tough 
white  fibrous  matter  as  foreign  to  them  as  are 
tumors  and  cancer  in  man.  Perhaps  Napoleon, 
who  lacked  sulphur  and  abounded  in  phos- 
phorus, originated  or  at  least  cultivated  his 
fatal  cancer  in  much  the  same  way. 

It  is  as  natural  for  a  perfectly  normal  human 
being  to  undertake  things,  to  have  a  strong 


The  Miracle  of  Food  43 

ambition  and  initiative,  as  it  is  for  him  to 
breathe.  Originality  is  the  product  of  a  vigor- 
ous mind  in  a  healthy  body.  People  would 
be  infinitely  more  original  and  resourceful  than 
they  are,  if  they  kept  their  physical  standards 
up.  When  a  man  is  perfectly  well,  he  is  not  an 
imitator.  His  mentality  is  forceful.  He  is 
not  inclined  to  trail  then,  as  he  is  when  his 
physical  standards  are  down. 

Concentration  is  the  secret  of  all  achieve- 
ment, but  you  cannot  focus  your  faculties  with 
vigor  and  efficiency  if  your  brain  is  not  prop- 
erly nourished.  Everything  depends  upon  the 
quality  of  your  brain,  and  that  in  turn  depends 
upon  the  food  with  which  it  is  nourished. 

You  are  very  particular  about  the  quality  of 
the  material  which  you  put  into  your  manu- 
factures. But  what  about  the  quality  of  your 
brain  and  your  physical  condition,  which  de- 
termine the  quality  of  your  career?  Do  you 
realize  that  your  habitual  diet  is  constantly 
adding  to  or  taking  from  your  brain  power? 

One  great  reason  for  the  superiority  of  the 
brain  power  and  achievement  of  successful 
business  men  over  those  who  work  for  them 
is  that  they  are  better  nourished ;  they  have  the 


44  Keeping  Fit 


finest  quality  of  nutriment,  food  that  is  fresher, 
riper,  that  has  been  more  perfectly  matured  in 
Nature's  laboratory.  The  man  of  means  often 
overeats,  but  he  usually  eats  foods  of  the  best 
quality. 

It  is  the  positive  mind,  fed,  sustained,  and 
buttressed  by  nutritious  food,  that  does  things. 
The  positive,  decisive  mind  must  be  capable  of 
complete  concentration,  must  be  the  product 
of  high  food  values,  of  perfected,  full-grown 
cereals,  fruits,  and  vegetables.  The  sun  must 
have  wrought  this  perfected  work  and  ripened 
and  developed  the  food  values  in  Nature's 
laboratory,  where  she  performs  her  miracle  of 
canning  life  elixirs  in  the  juices  in  her  apples, 
her  oranges,  her  bananas,  her  strawberries,  and 
all  the  other  fruits.  Sometimes  this  canning 
process  of  Nature  is  not  completed,  and  these 
things  are  not  allowed  to  come  to  perfection. 
Perhaps  the  fruits  are  shaken  off  of  the  tree  in 
windfalls  before  the  sun  has  finished  his  ripen- 
ing work,  before  Nature  has  had  time  to  de- 
velop her  sugar,  her  nutritive  salts,  and  all  the 
other  health-producing  ingredients;  perhaps 
she  has  not  finished  her  work  when  man  plucks 
the  immature  fruit ;  or  perhaps  the  worm  which 


The  Miracle  of  Food  45 

has  worked  its  way  to  the  heart  of  the  fruit  has 
caused  it  to  drop  off  before  the  processes  have 
been  completed.  Then,  if  one  has  eaten  the 
half-ripened,  half-matured  fruit,  or  half-de- 
veloped vegetables,  of  course  he  has  not  been 
able  to  get  the  fire  and  force,  the  courage,  the 
vim,  the  grit,  and  the  stamina  which  would 
have  come  from  Nature's  perfect  product.  If, 
in  addition  to  eating  this  imperfect  food,  man 
does  not  obey  the  scientific  law  and  give 
Nature  a  chance  to  digest  and  assimilate  her 
food  values  into  brain  matter,  he  must  cer- 
tainly expect  inferior  results,  inferior  brain 
force. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  unscien- 
tific and  scientific  food,  between  mediocrity 
and  success,  between  a  negative  and  a  positive 
mind,  between  superb  and  indifferent  achieve- 
ment. Power  is  the  goal  of  our  ambition,  that 
power  which  comes  from  the  union  of  all  of  our 
mental  faculties,  kept  constantly  in  superb 
condition  in  order  to  give  out  the  very  maxi- 
mum of  their  energy  and  force.  How  to  ac- 
quire mental  vigor  should  be  the  great  study 
of  every  one  who  is  resolved  to  make  the  most 
and  the  best  of  himself. 


46  Keeping  Fit 


Dr.  Talmage  used  to  say:  "We  are  con- 
stantly praying  to  Heaven  for  that  which  we 
could  easily  get  for  ourselves  by  correct  diet." 
There  are  multitudes  of  men  whose  forceful- 
ness  and  efficiency  could  be  doubled  and 
trebled  by  scientific  diet. 

The  first  thing  for  the  success  candidate  to 
do  is  to  put  himself  in  a  position  to  generate 
his  maximum  of  brain  power,  brain  energy,  by 
eating  foods  which  are  capable,  when  digested, 
of  evolving,  of  releasing,  the  greatest  amount 
and  the  finest  quality  of  energy.  It  is  com- 
paratively easy  for  a  robust  physique,  with 
perfected  food  products,  to  develop  efficiency 
in  work;  whereas,  no  amount  of  will-power  in 
an  enfeebled  body  can  perform,  by  the  utmost 
strain,  the  same  work  that  the  other  does  easily, 
naturally.  Stamina  and  grit  live  in  perfect 
grains,  perfect  fruits,  perfect  vegetables,  in- 
telligently, scientifically  taken,  digested,  and 
assimilated.  Here  is  the  secret  of  power,  the 
fountain-head  of  efficiency. 

Many  get  the  impression  that  their  power 
to  do  things  is  something  that  has  been  handed 
down  to  them  from  their  ancestors  and  that 
they  cannot  change  it  very  much.     They  do 


The  Miracle  of  Food  47 

not  realize  that,  if  they  go  without  eating  only 
a  few  hours  longer  than  they  should,  all  their 
powers  begin  to  decline,  ambition  evaporates, 
hope  becomes  dull;  all  their  ability  begins  to 
deteriorate,  and  they  are  only  revived  by  par- 
taking of  food:  further,  they  do  not  seem  to 
realize  that  on  the  quality  and  regularity  of 
their  food  the  quality  of  their  renewal  depends ; 
that,  if  shoddy  goes  into  the  loom,  shoddy  will 
come  out  in  the  cloth, — it  will  show  in  deteri- 
orated wearing  quality. 

The  first  qualification  for  efficiency,  then,  is 
the  purest  possible  blood,  and  this  can  only  be 
made  by  the  purest  food  taken  in  just  the  right 
amount  and  variety,  and  afterward  assimi- 
lated in  the  most  scientific  manner.  This  is 
the  only  way  to  manufacture  a  first-class  man 
with  the  highest  standard  of  efficiency.  If  the 
original  cells  in  the  cereals,  the  vegetables,  the 
fruit,  and  the  meat  which  we  eat  are  deterior- 
ated; if  they  have  not  been  properly  matured, 
or  were  originally  defective,  if  the  soil  from 
which  they  were  grown,  or  the  material  from 
which  they  were  produced,  was  not  up  to  the 
mark,  and  if  they  were  not  properly  prepared 
and  cooked  and  so  eaten  as  to  facilitate  the 


48  Keeping  Fit 


most  perfect  digestion;  if  the  body  is  not  in  a 
condition  to  digest,  assimilate,  and  transform 
the  food  into  blood  in  the  most  favorable  man- 
ner,— then  we  shall  have  a  deteriorated  body, 
an  inferior  brain,  and  our  achievement  will  be 
of  a  low  order. 

Remember,  your  future,  your  possibilities 
are  swimming  in  your  blood.  If  that  is  poor, 
inferior,  deteriorated,  and  diluted;  if  it  lacks 
fire  and  force,  is  incapable  of  releasing  the 
energy  which  achieves,  the  force  which  does 
things,  it  is  because  the  food  from  which  you 
manufactured  it  was  inferior,  for  the  brain 
cannot  get  force  and  power  from  the  blood 
when  these  were  not  in  the  first  place  in  the 
food  cells. 

The  time  will  come  when  foodstuffs,  which 
perform  the  miracle  of  making  brain  power,  of 
building  efficiency,  will  be  inspected  by  govern- 
ment officials.  The  man  of  the  future  will  not 
take  the  chances  of  producing  an  inferior  brain 
force  because  the  grains  in  his  cereals  have  been 
blighted  or  harvested  before  they  were  per- 
fected. He  will  not  take  chances  of  eating 
blighted,  windfallen  fruit,  half-grown,  before 
Nature  in  her  laboratory  has  had  time  to  per- 


The  Miracle  of  Food  49 

form  her  miracle  in  perfecting  their  juices,  in 
developing  their  nutritive  salts  which  would 
make  perfect  blood.  Inferior  grain  and  vege- 
tables— everything  that  is  unfit  to  make  the 
highest  quality  of  blood  and  brain, — will  be 
condemned  just  as  government  inspectors  now 
condemn  diseased  meats.  The  time  will  come 
when  nothing  else  that  affects  the  welfare  of 
the  race  will  be  quite  so  scientifically  guarded 
as  man's  food,  because  locked  up  in  it  is  the 
mainspring  of  life,  about  all  of  human  destiny. 


Ill 

WHAT  TO  EAT,  OR,  THE  SCIENCE  OF  NUTRITION 

Health  consists  with  temperance  alone. 

— Alexander  Pope. 

Lengthening  of  life  requireth  observation  of  diets. 

— Francis  Bacon. 

Cheese  is  gold  in  the  morning,  silver  at  noon,  and  lead  at 
night. — German  Proverb. 

Such  dainties  to  them,  their  health  it  might  hurt; 
It's  like  sending  them  ruffles,  while  wanting  a  shirt. 

— Oliver  Goldsmith. 

"Whose  son  art  thou?"  inquired  King  Lane,  in  wonder, 
when  the  stripling  David  came  into  his  presence  after  slaying 
the  huge  Goliath  of  Gath.  "Whose  daughter  art  thou?" 
asked  the  equally  astonished  barons,  bishops,  priests,  and 
princes,  of  Joan  of  Arc,  who,  as  De  Quincey  puts  it,  "had 
come  out  of  the  quiet,  out  of  the  safety,  out  of  the  religious 
inspiration  rooted  in  deep  pastoral  solitudes,  to  a  station  in 
the  van  of  armies  and  to  the  more  perilous  station  at  the 
right  hand   of  kings." 

Whose  son — whose  daughter — art  thou?  Is  your  strength 
of  body,  or  mind,  or  purpose,  chiefly  derived  from  your  an- 
cestry?— or  are  you,  in  the  main,  the  child  of  your  individual 
physical,  mental,  and  spiritual  rules  of  life, — of  your  own  aims, 
training,  regimen,  and  deeds? 

If  the  latter,  one  almost  unconsciously  wonders  with  the 
poet:     "Upon  what  does  this,  our  Caesar,   feed,  that   he  has 

50 


What  to  Eat  51 

grown  so  great?" — or  what  is  lacking  in  his  diet  or  his  men- 
tality that  he  remains  so  feeble  in  body,  mind  or  soul? 

An  authority  who  has  made  a  study  of  bee 
culture  says  that  as  soon  as  a  hive  needs  a  new 
queen  the  bees  begin  to  feed  the  larvae  of  a  few 
workers  with  the  best  part  of  a  jelly-like  sub- 
stance called  by  bee  cultivators  the  royal  jelly. 
The  one  selected  from  the  developed  larvae  for 
a  queen  continues  to  be  fed  upon  this  sub- 
stance, while  the  others,  of  course,  are  no 
longer  thus  favored.  As  a  result  of  her  special 
diet  the  future  queen  grows  several  times  as 
large  as  her  companions  and  many  times  more 
intelligent. 

Numerous  experiments  made  upon  animals 
and  birds  with  different  kinds  of  food  have  re- 
sulted in  radical  changes  in  their  structure  and 
appearance.  In  the  case  of  birds  very  great 
changes  were  made  in  their  plumage.  The 
disposition  and  the  tissues  themselves  were  ma- 
terially altered,  coarsened  or  refined,  according 
to  the  nature  of  the  food. 

We  all  know  what  a  difference  there  is  in 
the  appearance,  in  the  spirit  and  bearing  of 
the  fine  high-stepping  horses  of  the  rich,  which 
are  fed  with  the  greatest  care,  on  the  best  foods. 


52  Keeping  Fit 


and  those  of  the  horses  of  poor  people  which 
are  fed  upon  the  meanest  kind  of  hay,  perhaps 
without  any  grain.  Plants  which  have  plenty 
of  sunlight  and  nourishing  soil  have  two  or 
three  times  as  much  growth  in  a  year  as  those 
whose  roots  are  dwarfed  in  poor  soil  and  whose 
leaves  get  little  or  no  sunshine.  Contrast  the 
appearance  of  well-nourished  crops  with  those 
that  have  had  no  fertilizer  and  have  been 
grown  on  poor,  arid  soil. 

There  is  just  as  great  difference  in  the 
physical  appearance  of  prosperous,  well-fed 
men  and  women  and  of  those  who  are  underfed 
and  under-nourished  in  the  ranks  of  the  poor 
as  there  is  in  the  appearance  of  the  high-step- 
ping, well-fed  and  well-cared-for  horses  of  the 
rich  and  the  "dopey,"  stupid,  half -fed  and  half- 
cared-for  horses  of  the  poor;  just  as  marked  a 
difference  in  the  quality  and  strength  of  the 
children  reared  in  homes  of  wealth  and  luxury 
and  those  brought  up  in  city  slums  as  there  is 
in  the  quality  and  strength  of  the  plants  raised 
from  nourishing  soil  in  the  sunlight  and  those 
that  have  struggled  up  in  poor  soil,  largely  de- 
prived of  sun  and  dew. 

The  appearance  and  quality  of  plants  and 


What  to  Eat  53 

animals  are  alike  dependent  on  the  nutriment 
they  receive.  Sunshine,  light,  air,  water,  and 
the  right  kind  and  quantity  of  food  are  neces- 
sary for  the  perfect  development  of  all. 

Ignorance  of  food  values  and  bodily  require- 
ments would  reduce  a  Webster  to  a  pygmy. 
It  is  just  as  necessary  to  know  how  to  choose 
our  foods  and  to  know  their  action  upon  the 
body  as  it  is  to  be  trained  for  our  vocations. 

In  repairing  our  homes  and  keeping  them  in 
order,  we  use  materials  like  those  that  first 
entered  into  their  construction.  We  repair 
bricks  with  bricks,  stone  with  stone,  wood  with 
wood,  glass  with  glass.  That  is  exactly  what 
we  do,  when  we  eat,  for  the  houses  in  which  our 
spirits  dwell.  We  are  repairing  the  temples 
of  our  bodies,  and  we  must  use  the  sort  of  ma- 
terials of  which  they  are  constructed.  Noth- 
ing else  could  be  utilized  to  the  best  advantage. 

In  other  words,  our  food  supplies  the  ele- 
ments which  build,  sustain,  repair,  and  renew 
corresponding  elements  in  our  bodies.  We  eat 
oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  carbon,  iron,  ar- 
senic, lime,  magnesia,  potash,  soda,  silica,  etc., 
to  replace  similar  elements  in  our  bodies. 
.These  we  find  most  abundantly  in  vegetables, 


54  Keeping  Fit 


fruits,  cereals,  meats,  eggs,  fish,  milk,  etc.,  and 
we  eat  them  in  sufficient  quantities  to  renew 
our  bodies'  waste,  to  replace  the  material  which 
has  been  burned  or  consumed  by  the  day's  run 
of  our  human  mechanism.  Whatever  we  eat 
which  is  not  like  the  materials  of  our  bodies 
will  do  us  no  good,  because  it  will  find  no  affin- 
ity, no  response  in  any  of  our  tissues,  and  hence 
will  have  to  be  excluded  as  poison  or  waste. 
The  tissues  cannot  use  it,  since  they  can  only 
absorb  things  like  themselves,  things  which 
have  the  same  constituent  parts.  Only  brain 
materials,  for  instance, — that  is,  the  things  that 
make  our  brains, — can  build,  repair,  or  renew 
brains.  Only  the  materials  which  produce 
bone  can  be  utilized  in  our  skeletons;  only 
foods  which  contain  the  materials  that  the 
nerves  are  made  of  can  build  nerves;  so  that, 
literally,  we  are  ever  eating  and  reabsorbing 
the  elements  of  our  bodies.  Nothing  else  can 
be  absorbed  by  our  tissues  when  in  health 
except  to  our  injury. 

There  are  three  classes  of  food  that  are  im- 
perative for  the  building  and  maintenance  of 
all  the  different  parts  of  the  body.  Albumi- 
nous foods,  which  come  mainly  from  meat. 


What  to  Eat  55 

eggs,  milk,  and  the  legumes,  are  good,  every- 
day working  foods.  Sugars,  starches,  and  fats, 
called  carbohydrates,  and  vegetables  produce 
various  energies  in  the  body,  as  illustrated  in 
muscular  activity,  and  the  different  fats  which 
come  from  both  animal  and  vegetable  foods 
produce  heat.  We  must  also  have  mineral 
foods,  such  as  iron,  lime,  phosphorus,  mag- 
nesia, etc.,  which  purify  the  blood,  give  firm- 
ness to  the  tissues,  and  help  to  maintain  proper 
electrical  tension. 

The  absence  of  any  of  these  different  forms 
of  food,  the  tissue  builders,  the  body  warmers, 
the  energy  producers,  or  the  blood  purifiers, 
would  cause  starvation  in  certain  tissues,  and 
ultimate  death.  If  the  body  were  fed  wholly  on 
the  materials  which  build  tissues,  the  digestive 
processes  and  other  functions  would  stop.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  we  should  partake  only  of 
the  materials  which  furnish  energy  alone,  the 
energy  of  force-forming  foods,  we  should  soon 
die  from  overactivity  and  the  starvation  and 
gradual  wasting  away  of  the  solid  tissues.  No 
matter  how  much  of  the  starches  or  sugars  or 
fats  you  might  eat,  they  would  maintain  only 
the  energies  or  the  activities  of  the  body,  while 


56  Keeping  Fit 


if  you  lack  tissue  builders  the  structure  of  your 
body  would  begin  to  deteriorate.  The  white 
men  who  first  went  to  visit  South  America 
pined  away  one  by  one  from  tissue  starvation, 
because,  while  they  could  get  plenty  of  food, 
they  could  not  get  a  sufficient  variety  to  feed 
all  of  the  tissues.  That  is,  they  could  not  get 
sufficient  flesh  formers  and  flesh  warmers  in 
the  right  proportion  to  sustain  life. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  maintain  perfect 
health,  there  must  be  a  balance,  a  poise,  of  the 
different  kinds  of  foods,  the  tissue  builders  and 
renewers  and  the  foods  which  furnish  the  heat 
and  support  the  various  energies  of  the  body, 
as  well  as  certain  minerals  which  are  purifiers 
and  regulators  of  the  blood  and  other  secre- 
tions, and  water,  which  liquefies  and  facilitates 
the  carrying  of  nutrition  to  the  various  tissues. 
Of  course,  without  water  the  blood  circulation 
would  be  impossible;  for  though  the  water  it- 
self does  not  form  tissues  or  furnish  energy, 
its  presence  in  large  amounts  is  absolutely  im- 
perative for  carrying  on  a  multitude  of  life 
processes.  Without  it  the  various  chemical 
changes,  the  circulation  and  the  secretion  of 
various  organic  fluids  would  also  be  impossible. 


What  to  Eat  57 

An  ordinary  adult  needs  from  ten  to  twenty 
ounces  of  body  warmers,  according  to  activity 
and  climate;  that  is,  of  carbonaceous  foods, 
such  as  sugars,  starches,  fats,  etc.;  and  five 
ounces  of  flesh  formers,  of  nitrogenous  foods 
which  contain  albumen,  etc.,  or  practically  at 
least  a  pound  of  body  warmers  and  flesh  form- 
ers a  day  from  animal  or  vegetable  food. 

It  is  supposed  that  about  seven  out  of  ten 
ounces  of  carbonaceous  food  would  be  burned 
in  the  bodily  combustion,  making  heat  and 
supplying  the  forces  which  are  used  up  in  the 
various  activities  of  the  body.  The  remaining 
three  ounces  should  be  used  for  padding  be- 
tween the  muscles  and  for  covering  the  bones 
to  make  the  body  more  comely.  When  we  are 
working  very  hard,  or  in  the  summer  time, 
we  burn  up  more  of  our  fat  and  usually  get 
thinner ;  but  it  is  not  safe  to  burn  up  all  of  the 
heat  and  energy  food  each  day,  because  one 
would  then  not  have  a  reserve  of  energy  and 
in  an  emergency  would  lack  resisting  power. 

This,  of  course,  is  a  rough  general  estimate, 
and  could  not  be  laid  down  as  a  hard  and  fast 
rule,  for  all  to  follow.  If  the  food  of  each 
individual  were  properly  balanced  and  each  of 


58  Keeping  Fit 


the  glands  and  tissues  found  just  the  right  kind 
and  the  right  amount  of  nutriment  in  the  blood 
stream  to  maintain  the  integrity  and  perfect 
balance  of  the  entire  body,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  level  of  human  efficiency  would  be 
raised  very  much  higher  than  it  is  to-day.  But 
no  physician,  no  physiologist  living,  could  pos- 
sibly make  out  a  bill  of  fare  that  would  meet 
the  needs  of  all  alike. 

No  common  diet  could  be  prescribed  for 
everybody.  Each  individual,  according  to  his 
age,  his  physical  condition,  and  his  tempera- 
ment would  have  to  make  exceptions  and  study 
his  own  requirements.  But  we  know  by  ex- 
perience that  people  living  under  different  con- 
ditions, doing  different  kinds  of  work,  are  very 
materially  helped  by  foods  especially  rich  in 
the  elements  which  enter  into  the  structure 
and  maintenance  of  the  tissues  which  are  most 
active  in  that  sort  of  life  or  vocation.  The 
kind  and  amount  of  food  required  by  different 
people  depend  a  great  deal  upon  the  degree  of 
rapidity  with  which  the  cell  life  of  any  par- 
ticular tissue  or  organ  is  broken  down  by  its 
activity.  The  brain  and  nerve  cells,  for  ex- 
ample, are  broken  down  very  rapidly  in  in- 


What  to  Eat  59 

tense  mental  exercise  or  mental  application, 
whereas  destruction  would  be  comparatively 
light  if  the  brain  were  used  very  little,  as  in 
the  case  of  persons  whose  activity  is  chiefly 
muscular. 

It  is  well  knovm  that  animals  should  be  fed 
according  to  the  work  they  do  and  their  mode 
of  living.  A  hunting  dog  requires  a  different 
food  from  a  house  dog.  A  driving  and  trotting 
horse,  a  race  horse,  requires  a  very  different 
food  from  a  dray  horse,  that  carries  a  heavy 
load.  Speed  requires  food  like  oats,  which 
gives  up  a  quick  energy.  Corn  is  too  heavy 
for  the  speed  horse.  On  the  other  hand,  oats 
do  not  have  the  same  staying  power  as  corn. 

The  human  animal  must  also  be  fed  to  fit 
him  for  his  particular  work.  What  would  you 
think  of  a  trainer  who  would  constantly  stuff 
a  young  athlete  with  all  sorts  of  food  he  could 
get  regardless  of  its  properties,  whether  it 
made  fat  or  muscle?  You  would  certainly 
think  the  man  did  not  know  his  business.  Even 
those  who  have  not  studied  the  matter  know 
that  an  athlete  must  be  trained  for  speed,  en- 
durance, or  muscular  strength,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  contest.     Every  bit  of  food 


60  Keeping  Fit 


that  does  not  help  toward  this  end  is  excluded 
from  the  diet.  All  foods  that  tend  to  produce 
fat  instead  of  sustaining  prolonged  muscular 
effort  are  cut  off.  Every  bit  of  material  that 
will  burden, — all  overeating,  is  forbidden. 
Every  mouthful  which  is  unnecessary  for  sus- 
tenance and  strength  building,  which  would  be 
an  additional  tax  upon  the  digestive  organs 
and  the  nervous  tissues,  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
its  injurious  effects,  must  be  excluded.  The 
problem  is  to  produce  the  maximum  of  mus- 
cular strength  and  endurance,  to  take  only  the 
foods  which  can  sustain  the  heart  in  its  stupen- 
dous strain,  in  running,  leaping,  wrestling,  etc. 
The  great  object  is  to  build  up  perfect  muscle 
fiber  and  to  eliminate  everything  which  would 
tend  to  produce  fat  cells  in  the  muscles,  espe- 
cially in  the  heart  muscles,  which  would  tend 
to  weaken  the  vigor  of  its  stroke. 

The  first  consideration  in  the  food  question 
is  to  supply  the  physiological  requirements  of 
the  body  without  a  lack  or  scantiness  anywhere 
which  would  cause  deterioration  in  any  tissue, 
or  a  surplus  which  would  clog  the  organs  and 
result  in  poisoning  the  body  through  the  de- 
composition of  half-digested  foods. 


What  to  Eat  61 

For  example,  a  person  engaged  in  an  ath- 
letic contest,  like  bicycle  racing,  carried  on  for 
a  week  or  more,  would  need  a  great  deal  of 
energy-producing  material  to  supply  the  rapid 
waste  of  broken-down  tissues  in  the  muscular 
system.  This  need  must  be  quickly  supplied 
by  foods  which  are  combustible  in  the  body  and 
which  yield  a  large  amount  of  energy  and  com- 
paratively little  of  what  we  might  call  the  tis- 
sue-building elements,  because  the  principal 
loss  of  persons  in  such  a  contest  is  in  the 
energy  and  heat  producing  products  which 
come  from  rapid  combustion.  If  a  contestant 
took  too  much  animal  food  he  would  get  an 
oversupply  of  the  tissue-building  material, — 
too  much  albuminous  and  nitrogenous  food, 
and  too  little  energy-producing  material. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  experiments  on 
animals  have  shown  the  evil  effects  of  an  ex- 
cess of  the  latter  kind  of  food,  which  causes 
a  very  rapid  deterioration  in  the  physical  life, 
especially  in  the  lining  cells  of  the  alimen- 
tary tract  and  seriously  interferes  with  the 
digestive  and  absorptive  processes,  so  that 
the  foods  are  not  completely  absorbed,  as- 
similated and  transformed  into  life  tissues. 


62  Keeping  Fit 


For  instance,  a  dog,  if  fed  largely  upon  rice, 
will  not  have  sufficient  structure-building  ma- 
terial, and  a  fatty  degeneration  will  take  place 
in  the  mucous-membrane  lining  of  the  alimen- 
tary tract,  so  that  if  this  diet  is  continued  very 
long  the  absorptive  power  in  the  alimentary 
tract  will  become  so  impaired  that  the  animal 
ultimately  will  not  thrive  even  if  its  natural 
diet  is  restored. 

There  are  many  food  elements  which  are 
necessary  to  the  integrity  of  the  bodily  tissues. 
For  example,  there  is  no  animal  life  in  which 
phosphorus  does  not  play  an  indispensable 
part;  and,  if  we  should  eat  food  which  does 
not  contain  any  of  the  phosphorous  com- 
pounds, life  would  rapidly  decline.  The  brain 
would  quickly  deteriorate  if  deprived  of  phos- 
phorus, which  is  found  abundantly  in  the  j^olks 
of  eggs,  in  fish,  in  milk,  cheese,  etc.  Cereals 
and  legumes  also  contain  much  phosphorus. 

Most  people,  especially  the  poor,  eat  more 
than  twice  as  much  starchy  food  as  is  required 
by  the  system ;  and,  as  they  do  not  get  enough 
of  other  foods,  some  of  their  tissues  are  starved. 
Those  who  live  largely  upon  the  products  of 
fine  flour  overtax  that  part  of  the  digestive 


What  to  Eat  63 

system  which  takes  care  of  the  starchy  food, 
and  they  often  suffer  from  an  overacidity  of 
the  stomach  and  sometimes  of  the  saliva,  which 
latter  is  very  injurious  to  the  teeth. 

Children  of  the  poor  are  often  born  with 
rickets,  because  the  mothers  have  lived  mainly 
on  white  bread  and  tea  and  have  not  them- 
selves had  sufficient  bone-making  material  to 
transmit  to  their  children  for  the  building 
of  their  skeletons.  Some  of  these  children 
have  not  enough  backbone  to  hold  up  their 
heads,  and  they  become  deformed  in  all  sorts  of 
ways, — if  they  ever  reach  maturity, — because 
after  they  are  born  they  do  not  get  enough  of 
the  material  they  lacked  before  birth  to  build 
up  and  remedy  their  defects.  A  child  needs 
much  phosphorus,  lime,  magnesia,  and  silica  for 
his  skeleton,  which  is  the  principal  part  of  his 
little  body,  and  he  should  be  nourished  with  the 
object  of  growth  in  view.  Yet  many  children 
are  fed  chiefly  on  fine  white  flour  products 
and  tea,  and  often  coffee.  It  ought  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  crime  to  feed  children  on  such 
things ! 

No  infant  can  digest  solid  foods  until  it  cuts 
its  teeth.    Children  should  have  plenty  of  milk 


64  Keeping  Fit 


until  they  are  eight  or  nine  years  old,  other- 
wise the  bones  will  not  get  sufficient  lime  and 
other  earthy  salts  to  harden  them,  and  rickets 
or  bone  diseases  of  some  sort  are  likely  to  de- 
velop. While  the  body  is  in  process  of  con- 
struction, all  the  tissues  require  a  great  deal 
more  building  material  than  when  it  has 
reached  maturity,  and  milk  contains  every- 
thing necessary  for  early  body-building.  It  is 
the  only  perfect  food,  and  contains  forty  dif- 
ferent substances.  For  proper  development 
it  is  imperative  to  have  every  tissue  in  the  body 
nourished,  and  to  have  every  element  in  food 
which  can  build  the  tissues,  furnish  the  fuel 
for  combustion,  and  supply  heat  and  the  vari- 
ous energies  for  all  the  bodily  activities.  Some 
food  authorities  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  drink- 
ing milk  is  almost  like  drinking  blood,  because, 
if  pure  and  rich,  it  is  such  a  great  blood  maker. 
While  milk  is  the  only  food  which  contains 
every  element  that  enters  into  the  human  body, 
such  as  oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  carbon, 
phosphorus,  sulphur,  etc.,  yet  taken  alone  it  is 
not  so  well  suited  for  an  adult  as  for  a  grow- 
ing child,  because  it  contains  too  much  build- 
ing material,  although  that  is  the  most  impor- 


What  to  Eat  65 

tant  factor  before  the  body  reaches  maturity. 
Later  in  life  there  is  not  much  body  building, 
but  we  require  food  for  maintaining  and  sus- 
taining the  body  already  built.  At  the  same 
time,  a  certain  amount  of  milk,  or  its  equiva- 
lent, is  needed  all  through  life;  and,  in  some 
cases  of  weak  digestion  and  certain  other  ail- 
ments, a  diet  composed  almost  wholly  of  milk 
has  had  very  beneficial  effects. 

Our  diet  should  be  chosen  according  to  our 
individual  needs,  as  determined  by  our  age 
and  our  vocation.  It  should  be  planned  to 
enable  us  to  express  the  maximum  of  our) 
ability,  our  efficiency,  in  whatever  line  of  en- 
deavor we  are  engaged,  whether  it  involve 
mental  or  muscular  effort.  Yet  in  some  fam- 
ilies there  are  half  a  dozen  members  who  rep- 
resent different  vocations,  but  who  eat  the 
same  kind  of  food.  Our  system  of  eating  is 
as  vicious  as  our  system  of  education,  where 
thousands  of  students  are  put  in  the  same 
education  mold,  with  little  or  no  regard  to 
their  individuality,  to  the  fact  that  no  two 
of  them  are  alike,  that  their  temperament, 
their  inherited  tendencies,  their  degrees  of 
physical  strength  and  vitality  are  all  different. 


66  Keeping  Fit 


Of  course,  this  does  not  mean  that  a  separate 
meal  would  have  to  be  provided  for  each  mem- 
ber of  the  family,  which,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  would  be  impossible.  As  in  education, 
the  basis  could  almost  invariably  be  alike;  but 
there  would  be  minor  differences  which,  while 
they  would  not  overtax  the  housekeeper,  would 
make  a  great  difference  in  the  well-being  of 
the  family. 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  from  time  to 
time  of  concentrated  nourishment;  that  is,  of 
a  large  amount  of  nutriment  in  very  much  less 
bulk  than  in  ordinary  food  forms.  But  it  is 
not  sufficient  merely  to  take  into  the  stomach 
just  the  quantity  of  nutrition  which  would 
keep  the  body  in  perfect  food  balance.  It 
must  be  taken  in  a  form  adapted  to  its  diges- 
tion and  assimilation.  For  instance,  it  would 
not  meet  the  requirements  of  nature  to  take 
food  into  the  body  in  a  very  concentrated 
form,  as  in  tablets.  The  stomach  is  a  sort 
of  bag  in  whose  lining  is  contained  follicles 
which  secrete  the  gastric  juices.  When  empty, 
this  bag  is  closed  up  and  is  so  contracted  in 
size  that  if  the  food  were  taken  in  a  very  small 
bulk,  it  would  not  be  sufficiently  distended  to 


What  to  Eat  67 

perform  its  function,  even  though  the  small 
quantity  of  food  contained  every  element  nec- 
essary for  body  building.  In  order  to  enable 
the  gastric  follicles  in  the  stomach  lining  to 
do  their  normal  work  there  must  be  a  certain 
amount  of  pressure  upon  them,  and  this  can 
only  come  from  the  presence  of  a  sufficient 
bulk  of  food  to  open  up  the  stomach  bag  to  its 
natural  size.  The  action  of  the  follicles  is  in- 
duced by  the  alternate  contraction  and  expan- 
sion of  the  circular  and  longitudinal  layers  of 
stomach  muscles.  This  churning  motion  of  the 
stomach  is  necessary  for  the  proper  mixing  of 
the  foods  which  the  gastric  juice  is  cutting  up, 
dissolving,  and  macerating.  When  the  whole 
contents  are  thoroughly  mixed  by  this  churn- 
ing process,  the  liquid  mass  is  ready  to  pass 
on  and  receive  the  other  gastric  juices  of  the 
bile,  the  pancreas,  etc.,  along  the  intestinal 
tract,  where  the  chief  part  of  the  digestion  is 
done,  for  the  work  of  the  stomach  is  chiefly 
mechanical. 

This  is  one  reason  why  animals  like  horses 
require  hay  with  their  oats  or  corn.  The  latter 
alone  would  not  make  sufficient  bulk  to  insure 
perfect  digestion.     In  some  countries  clay  and 


68  Keeping  Fit 


earth  are  mixed  with  food  in  order  to  give  a 
greater  bulk  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  the 
stomach.  It  also,  in  part,  accounts  for  the 
fact  that  milk  alone  would  not  be  an  adequate 
diet  for  an  ordinary  adult.  When  it  is  taken 
alone,  some  twenty  per  cent,  of  it  is  lost 
through  faulty  assimilation,  so  that  something 
like  a  gallon  of  milk  would  be  required  daily 
for  the  complete  nutrition  of  an  adult.  Where, 
however,  bread  is  taken  with  it,  assimilation 
is  much  more  perfect;  so  that,  although  milk 
is  the  only  food  that  contains  the  elements  nec- 
essary for  building  and  maintaining  the  tis- 
sues of  the  body,  because  of  its  faulty  assimi- 
lation when  not  mixed  with  other  foods,  and 
also  because  it  would  not  make  sufficient  bulk 
in  the  alimentary  canal  for  the  purpose  of 
digestion,  it  would  not  of  itself  make  a  prac- 
tical or  satisfactory  diet  for  a  healthy  adult. 

Most  people  look  upon  milk  as  merely  a 
drink,  but  it  is  not;  it  is  a  food,  and  hence  it 
is  very  bad  to  drink  it  as  rapidly  as  water,  as 
most  of  us  do.  When  one  drinks  a  whole 
glass  of  milk  at  a  draught  or  two,  it  forms 
into  a  large,  solid  mass  of  casein  in  the  stom- 
ach; whereas,  if  sipped  slowly,  there  are  many 


What  to  Eat  69 

little  casein  balls  instead  of  one,  which  greatly 
facilitates  the  process  of  digestion.  Many  peo- 
ple have  severe  pains  in  the  stomach  after  rap- 
idly drinking  a  glass  or  more  of  iced  milk  in 
very  hot  weather,  or  when  the  body  is  for  any 
reason  overheated.  The  shock  to  the  warm 
stomach  of  this  mass  of  iced  milk  is  really 
dangerous,  as  the  work  of  digestion  can  be 
carried  on  with  efficiency  only  when  food  is 
at  the  temperature  of  the  blood — ninety-eight 
and  one-half  degrees. 

Perhaps,  everything  considered,  eggs,  next 
to  milk,  come  nearest  to  being  a  perfect  food ; 
although,  as  in  the  case  of  milk,  if  we  should 
attempt  to  live  on  eggs  alone  we  would  not 
be  able  to  maintain  the  bodily  balance  or  poise, 
which  is  the  object  of  a  correct  diet.  They  are 
especially  good  for  building  up  the  brain  cells 
and  the  cells  of  the  nervous  system  generally, 
for  they  contain  considerable  phosphorus  and 
iron.  As  a  rule,  eggs  introduce  these  sub- 
stances into  the  body  much  better  than  drugs 
do.  In  addition  to  phosphorus  and  iron,  eggs 
also  contain  arsenic,  acids,  and  especially  al- 
bumen, which  are  all  extremely  important  for 
the  building  and  maintenance  of  the  organism. 


70  Keeping  Fit 


Many  people  make  the  mistake  of  eating 
raw  eggs  because  they  think  they  are  more 
digestible  than  cooked  eggs.  This  is  not  so, 
because  the  white  of  an  egg  does  not  excite 
the  secretion  of  saliva  in  the  mouth  unless  it  is 
cooked;  so  that  hard-boiled  eggs,  thoroughly 
masticated,  are  really  more  digestible  than  raw 
eggs,  though  soft-boiled  eggs  are  most  digest- 
ible of  all.  It  is  a  little  more  difficult  for  the 
liver  to  take  care  of  the  yolks  of  eggs  than 
the  whites,  but  they  are  more  palatable,  and 
for  most  people  more  easily  digested. 

Cereals  are  especially  valuable  for  their 
large  amount  of  albumen  and  skeleton-build- 
ing material.  Wheat  and  oats  are  notably  rich 
in  albumen.  The  wheat  kernel  contains  eighty 
per  cent,  of  starch,  eleven  per  cent,  of  albu- 
men, and  about  one  per  cent,  of  fat.  Wheat 
bran  contains  even  a  larger  percentage  of  al- 
bumen and  almost  as  much  starch.  If  bran 
could  be  as  easily  assimilated  as  flour,  the  value 
of  wheat  products  would  be  multiplied  many 
times.  Many  people  think  that  coarse  rye 
bread  is  very  healthful,  and  this  is  true,  but  it 
is  very  difficult  to  digest  and  assimilate.  It  is 
good  for  people  who  have  strong  digestive  or- 


What  to  Eat  71 


gans,  especially  those  who  live  a  rugged,  out- 
door life. 

Macaroni  is  an  excellent  food,  very  nourish- 
ing, and  it  contains  considerable  albumen,  also 
sugars  and  starches.  Though  a  little  lacking 
in  fat,  it  is  especially  valuable  because  of  the 
large  variety  of  body-building  elements  it  con- 
tains. It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  so  many 
people,  especially  Italians,  live  almost  entirely 
upon  this  diet,  as  do  the  Eastern  Asiastics 
upon  rice. 

Macaroni  is  easily  digested  and  easily  as- 
similated, and  therefore  particularly  good  for 
people  with  weak  stomachs  and  delicate  digest- 
ive organs.  It  is  also  good  for  invalids  and 
patients  who  are  convalescing.  It  is  especially 
good  for  those  affected  with  kidney  diseases, 
for  gouty  persons,  and  for  those  who  are  get- 
ting on  in  years  and  have  more  or  less  harden- 
ing of  the  arteries,  because  it  does  not  contain 
any  substances  or  poisons  which  would  injure 
the  kidneys,  the  liver,  or  the  blood  vessels. 
Macaroni  also  tends  to  neutralize  intestinal 
putrefaction.  On  the  whole,  it  is  one  of  the 
best  known  foods. 

It  is  a  strange  fact  that  corn  foods,  which 


72  Keeping  Fit 


are  rich  in  sugar,  starch,  and  fat,  and  in  some 
of  the  most  important  nutritive  salts  like  phos- . 
phorus,  potash,  lime,  magnesia,  soda,  and  iron, 
should  be  made  so  little  of  in  the  American 
diet.  Corn  bread  and  corn  cakes  are  very  eas- 
ily digested  and  assimilated,  and  are  good 
body-builders.  Why  the  great  vegetarian  res- 
taurants, both  here  and  abroad,  make  so  little 
of  corn  products  is  a  mystery,  as  they  usually 
have  so  few  foods  that  are  rich  in  albumen. 
The  Italians  eat  a  great  deal  of  corn  products. 
Macaroni,  which  is  made  from  flour,  and  corn 
products  are  as  much  a  staple  food  with  them 
as  wheat  bread  is  with  us.  We  all  know  what 
tremendous  workers  they  are  and  the  great 
amount  of  fatigue  they  are  capable  of  en- 
during. 

Oatmeal  porridge  makes  a  very  desirable 
food,  particularly  in  the  morning.  We  know 
how  strong  and  vigorous,  physically  and  men- 
tally, Scotch  people  are,  who  live  so  largely 
upon  oatmeal  products.  Oatmeal  porridge 
with  the  yolks  of  two  eggs  would  make  a  splen- 
did breakfast,  especially  for  those  who  are  not 
subject  to  biliousness.  Oatmeal  contains  con- 
siderable lime,  phosphorus,  acid,  and  a  little 


What  to  Eat  73 

chlorine.  Whole  oats  contain  quite  a  large 
amount  of  potash,  iron,  and  phosphorus,  which 
last  is  very  nourishing  to  the  brain  cells  and 
nerve  cells. 

Buckwheat  cakes,  which  are  much  used  for 
breakfast  in  America,  especially  in  restaurants 
and  hotels,  are  not  very  digestible,  because  they 
contain  a  large  amount  of  cellulose,  which  is 
hard  to  assimilate.  Corn  cakes  are  much  pref- 
erable. Other  foods  that  contain  a  large 
amount  of  cellulose,  such  as  cabbage,  beans, 
rye  bread,  etc.,  cause  flatulence,  especially 
those  which  also  contain  considerable  sulphur. 

The  cellulose  in  vegetables  corresponds  to 
the  connective  tissue  in  meat,  which  is  difficult 
of  digestion  unless  thoroughly  cooked.  The 
starchy  foods,  like  sago,  tapioca,  etc.,  are  often 
given  to  people  with  weak  stomachs,  because 
they  do  not  tax  the  stomach,  the  digestion  be- 
ing carried  on  farther  along. 

Potatoes  and  meat  make  a  fairly  good  diet 
for  those  who  insist  upon  eating  meat,  as  the 
latter  furnishes  albumen  and  the  potatoes 
sugar,  fats,  etc.,  and  these  supply  the  most 
imperative  needs  of  the  body. 

An   Englishman,    Sir   William   Fairbairn, 


74  Keeping  Fit 


who  has  traveled  over  the  earth  a  great  deal 
to  study  the  influence  of  foods  upon  working 
people,  decides  that  the  strongest  men  in  the 
world  are  the  Turkish  laborers,  who  live  chiefly 
upon  bread  and  fruit.  They  eat  very  little 
meat  and  drink  no  spirits  or  wines  whatever. 
Frenchmen  do  not  eat  anything  like  as  much 
meat  as  the  English  and  rarely  have  stomach 
troubles.  They  eat  twice  as  much  bread  as 
Americans  do,  and  much  larger  quantities  of 
fruits  and  vegetables. 

Few  realize  the  value  of  spinach  as  a  food. 
Yet  it  is  rich  in  iron,  which  is  the  real  life  of 
the  blood.  Lettuce  grown  in  the  sunlight  has 
also  a  large  amount  of  iron,  but  when  grown 
in  dark  cellars  or  out  of  the  sunlight,  while  it 
may  be  tender,  it  is  very  poor  in  iron. 

It  is  well  known  that  both  men  and  beasts 
fed  upon  food  poor  in  iron  soon  become  very 
anemic.  On  the  other  hand,  animals  which 
have  become  anemic  from  this  cause  very 
quickly  improve  when  fed  upon  a  diet  rich  in 
iron,  like  carrots,  cabbage,  and  the  different 
grains.  Poor  /people  especially  suffer  seri- 
ously from  lack  of  sufficient  iron  in  the  blood, 
particularly  when  they  live  and  work  out  of 


What  to  Eat  75 

the  sunlight.  Tuberculosis  is  very  common 
among  those  who  are  poorly  nourished  and 
lack  iron  in  their  blood. 

Leguminous  vegetables  are  prohibited  to 
persons  who  are  predisposed  to  intestinal  and 
stomach  diseases ;  also  in  cases  of  hardening  of 
the  arteries  and  gout.  They  contain  elements 
which  generate  uric  acid.  More  of  this  acid  is 
produced  by  lentils  than  by  peas  or  beans. 
When  the  secretions  tend  to  an  excess  of  acids, 
a  large  quantity  of  potatoes  will  help  to  correct 
this  and  to  make  them  alkaline.  In  some  cases 
of  diabetes  potatoes  are  not  good,  because  their 
use  is  attended  with  an  excessive  elimination 
of  sugar.  Sweet  potatoes  are  nutritious,  but 
not  so  digestible  as  the  white  variety. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  mushrooms,  which 
spring  up  in  a  few  hours  after  rain,  contain  a 
large  amount  of  proteids,  which  are  the  tissue- 
building  elements  in  food,  and  almost  fifty  per 
cent,  of  such  carbohydrates  as  sugar,  starch, 
and  fat,  as  well  as  other  valuable  substances. 
When  perfectly  fresh,  mushrooms  are  very 
nutritious. 

Curd  or  cheese  is  nitrogenous  food,  and  feeds 
the  solid  tissues  of  the  body.     There  is  more 


76  Keeping  Fit 


nourishment  in  cheese  that  is  made  from  new 
milk  than  there  is  in  beef  or  mutton.  Very- 
few  realize  that  cheese  is  more  nutritious  than 
meat.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  it  contains  very 
much  the  same  constituents,  also  that  it  is  very 
much  cheaper ;  but,  if  taken  in  large  quantities, 
it  is  apt  to  disturb  digestion. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  value  of  cream  as  a 
food  is  entirely  overestimated.  Dogs  fed  on 
it  will  die  in  a  few  weeks,  because  there  is 
nothing  in  it  to  build  solid  tissues.  It  is  valu- 
able as  fuel;  its  combustion  generates  heat  in 
the  body. 

Oysters,  if  grown  in  clean  water,  are  very 
digestible  and  desirable,  although  not  as  nour- 
ishing as  some  other  kinds  of  food.  The  albu- 
men in  fish  is  very  desirable,  and  for  this  rea- 
son fish  is  good  for  people  who  suffer  from 
exhausting  diseases,  and  when  fresh  it  has  the 
additional  advantage  of  being  very  easily  di- 
gested. Much  less  uric  acid  is  generated  by 
fish,  barring  salmon,  than  by  meat.  Most 
kinds,  except  salmon,  are  good  for  people  suf- 
fering from  kidney  or  liver  trouble,  or  gout. 
Fish  is  especially  good  for  diabetes  patients, 
as  it  does  not  increase  the  amount  of  sugar  in 


What  to  Eat  77 

the  system.  It  is  better,  however,  to  accom- 
pany it  with  some  of  the  carbohydrate  foods, 
such  as  Graham  bread,  rye  bread,  fruits,  etc. 
Such  a  diet  will  diminish  the  amount  of  sugar 
in  diabetes.  Fresh  white  fish  has  been  found 
of  great  value  in  the  treatment  of  hardening 
arteries. 

The  flesh  of  Iamb  is  not  very  digestible,  be- 
cause of  its  fat,  a  high  temperature  being  re- 
quired to  melt  the  fat.  This  is  not  true  of 
lean  lamb,  but  as  lambs  are  usually  fat  many 
people  digest  their  flesh  with  great  difficulty. 
Pork  is  perhaps  the  most  universally  used  meat 
by  different  peoples  of  the  world,  and  while  it 
is  not  easily  digested,  it  has  a  pleasant  flavor 
when  properly  cooked.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
people  would  eat  flesh  of  any  kind  but  for  the 
agreeable  flavors  developed  in  cooking.  Lean 
boiled  ham  taxes  the  stomach  very  little  in  di- 
gestion, as  it  is  free  from  connective  tissue. 

The  flesh  of  the  domestic  turkey,  which  orig- 
inated in  the  United  States,  is  much  more  nour- 
ishing than  that  of  chicken.  Domestic  duck  is 
quite  a  nourishing  food,  but  it  is  not  suitable 
for  a  weak  stomach  or  delicate  digestion. 
Goose  is  very  nourishing,  but  very  difficult  to 


78  Keeping  Fit 


digest  because  of  its  fat.  The  liver  of  young 
animals  is  easily  digested  and  contains  consid- 
erable phosphorus,  and  very  nutritive  minerals, 
such  as  iron.  The  brains  of  animals  are  rich 
in  phosphorus  and  quite  easily  digested. 

Many  so-called  harmless  stimulants,  like  cof- 
fee and  tea,  make  people  irritable,  and  if  taken 
in  excess  cause  permanent  injury  by  the  con- 
stant enlargement  of  the  blood  vessels  in  the 
brain.  This  is  due  to  a  temporary  paralysis 
of  the  nerves  in  the  muscular  fibres  of  the 
blood  vessels,  so  that  they  lose  their  tonicity, 
and  are  powerless  to  restrict  the  blood  flow. 
All  alcoholic  stimulants  have  a  similar  effect. 
It  is  this  excess  of  blood  which  increases  the 
brain  activity,  thus  producing  for  a  time  a  feel- 
ing of  well  being,  a  kind  of  mental  exaltation. 
But  this  feeling,  as  everybody  who  uses  stimu- 
lants knows,  always  has  an  injurious  reaction. 

Because  tea  and  coffee  produce  uric  acid  in 
the  system  some  food  authorities  prohibit  them, 
when  all  other  things  which  are  known  to  gen- 
erate it  are  excluded;  but,  as  a  small  amount 
of  uric  acid  is  always  developed,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  total  exclusion  of  these  beverages  is 
absolutely   necessary.     In   certain   individual 


What  to  Eat  79 

cases  of  course  it  is.  Cocoa,  however,  is  much 
more  healthful  than  either.  It  is  also  a  very 
mild  stimulant  and  valuable  article  of  food. 
It  is  more  easily  digested  than  either  tea  or 
coffee  and  less  exciting  to  the  nervous  system. 
Chocolate  is  made  of  cocoa  and  a  large  quan- 
tity of  sugar,  and  really  is  more  a  food  than 
a  drink. 

It  would  be  impossible  in  the  space  of  a 
chapter,  or  in  a  book  of  ordinary  size,  for  that 
matter,  to  name  all  the  different  kinds  of  food 
and  discuss  their  qualities  and  effects.  The 
foregoing  is  merely  meant  to  be  suggestive  to 
those  who  have  not  made  some  study  of  the 
food  question. 

The  vast  amount  of  ignorance  that  exists 
on  this  question  is  sometimes  tragically,  some- 
times amusingly  illustrated.  As  an  instance 
of  the  latter,  I  know  of  a  French  baker  who 
became  so  fat  that  he  was  ashamed  to  appear 
on  the  street  because  people  made  so  much  fun 
of  him.  He  got  so  he  could  not  raise  his  hand 
to  his  head  to  put  on  his  hat.  Fortunately  for 
him,  some  one  who  knew  something  about  the 
chemistry  of  digestion  asked  him  why  he  did 
not  drop  his  carbonaceous,  fat-producing  food 


80  Keeping  Fit 


and  eat  nitrogenous  food,  such  as  meat,  eggs, 
cheese,  etc.,  and  take  a  great  deal  of  exercise. 
He  acted  upon  this  suggestion,  and  in  a  very- 
short  time  was  perfectly  normal  again. 

I  know  people  who  have  a  perfect  terror  of 
their  increasing  fat  who  nevertheless  continue 
to  eat  carbonaceous  food  and  take  very  little 
exercise.  Yet  if  the  sugars  and  starches  and 
fats  are  not  burned  in  the  combustion  of  the 
body  the  fat  cells  will  accumulate.  How 
many  women  are  lamenting  their  increasing 
fleshiness  and  resorting  to  all  sorts  of  drugs 
to  get  rid  of  it ;  whereas,  if  they  knew  the  sim- 
ple laws  of  the  chemistry  of  food  they  could 
largely  regulate  their  weight. 

Health  is,  indeed,  so  necessary  to  all  the  duties  as  well  as 
pleasures  of  life  that  the  crime  of  squandering  it  is  equal  to 
the  folly;  and  he  that,  for  a  short  gratification  brings  weak- 
ness and  disease  upon  himself,  and  for  the  pleasure  of  a  few 
years  passed  in  the  tumults  of  diversion  and  clamors  of  merri- 
ment, condemns  the  maturer  and  more  experienced  part  of  his 
life  to  the  chamber  and  the  couch,  may  be  justly  reproached, 
not  only  as  a  spendthrift  of  his  happiness,  but  also  as  a  rob- 
ber of  the  public — as  a  wretch  that  has  voluntarily  disqualified 
himself  for  the  business  of  his  station  and  refused  that  part 
which  Providence  assigns  him  in  the  general  task  of  human 
nature. — Samuel  Johnson. 


IV 

A  VEGETABLE  OR  A  MIXED  DIET, WHICH? 

Man  is  a  carnivorous  production, 

And  must  have  meals,  at  least  one  meal  a  day; 
He  cannot  live,  like  woodcocks,  upon  suction. 

But,  like  the  shark  and  tiger,  must  have  prey: 
Although  his   anatomical  construction 

Bears  vegetables,  in  a  grumbling  way, 
Your  laboring  people  think,  beyond  all  question, 

Beef,  veal,  and  mutton  better  for  digestion. 

— Bykon. 

Some  hae   meat   and   canna  eat. 
And  some  wad  eat  that  want  it; 
But  we  hae  meat,  and  we  can  eat, 
Sae  let  the  Lord  be  thankit. 

— Robert  Burn's. 

When  a  great  railroad  is  about  to  make  a 
record  run  across  the  continent  to  compete  for 
fast  mail  service,  in  order  to  outdistance  its 
competitors  it  selects  by  hand,  piece  by  piece, 
the  purest  coal  that  can  be  obtained, — that 
which  contains  the  least  possible  slag,  foreign 
matter,  or  other  non-energy-producing  ma- 
terial. The  manager  knows  that,  no  matter 
how  perfect  the  engine  or  how  successful  the 

81 


82  Keeping  Fit 


engineer,  the  success  of  the  competition  will 
depend  upon  the  quality  of  fuel  used.  Con- 
sequently, no  pains  or  expense  is  spared  in 
getting  just  the  right  food  for  the  locomotive. 

The  body  is  man's  engine,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing else  in  our  physical  life  so  important  as  the 
fuel  we  take  in  for  the  running  of  our  human 
train.  Our  food  is  our  fuel,  our  chief  gener- 
ator of  energy  which  we  transform  into  effi- 
ciency and  achievement.  Its  quality  neces- 
sarily affects  and  modifies  very  materially  the 
quality  of  our  effort.  Our  ambition,  courage, 
and  initiative  are  dependent  upon  it,  and  its 
quality  affects  in  turn  the  quality  of  our  men- 
tal output. 

Whatever  nutrition  will  produce  the  highest 
state  of  health  will  naturally  produce  the 
greatest  ability,  the  highest  intellectual  effi- 
ciency. We  are  all  of  a  piece ;  what  is  best  for 
the  body  as  a  whole  is  best  also  for  the  mind, 
inasmuch  as  the  mind  is  the  product  not  merely 
of  the  brain  but  also  of  the  activities  of  all  the 
cells  in  the  body;  and  these  are  so  closely  tied 
together,  so  interrelated,  that  what  affects  one 
cell  anywhere  in  our  mechanism  affects  all  the 
others. 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        83 

There  has  been  a  deal  of  controversy  as  to 
what  foods  are  the  best  and  most  natural  body 
builders  and  maintainers,  or  in  other  words,  as 
to  whether  man  is  naturally  a  vegetarian  or  a 
carnivorous  animal,  or  both.  There  are  physi- 
cal peculiarities  in  his  structure  showing  that 
he  was  intended  by  Nature  to  be  both.  This 
is  especially  indicated  in  the  formation  of  our 
teeth,  which  combine  the  characteristics  of  both 
carnivorous  and  herbivorous  creatures, — both 
flesh-tearing  and  grinding  adaptations.  Our 
teeth  are  similar  to  those  of  dogs  and  pigs, 
while  the  whole  human  apparatus  for  the 
transformation  of  food  into  tissue  shows  great 
similarity  to  that  of  the  dog. 

The  alimentary  canal  is  several  times  longer 
in  herbivorous  animals  than  in  man,  such  ad- 
ditional length  being  necessary  for  storing  and 
assimilating  the  larger  bulk  of  vegetables  and 
herbs  needed  to  obtain  our  required  amount  of 
nutrition.  Because  of  its  poverty  in  albumi- 
nous substances,  in  order  to  get  anything  like 
enough  to  feed  the  tissues  of  the  body,  some 
varieties  of  strictly  vegetable  diet  call  for  such 
a  large  amount  of  material  that  the  digestive 
organs   are   overworked.     This   consumes    so 


84  Keeping   Fit 


much  energy  that  it  often  keeps  the  strict  vege- 
tarian tired  out  in  just  trying  to  digest  suffi- 
cient food  to  nourish  himself.  One  would  thus 
have  to  carry  in  the  alimentary  canal  perhaps 
twice  as  much  food  in  order  to  get  the  same 
quantity  of  nutriment  as  would  be  furnished 
by  the  more  albuminous  food  products,  such 
as  meat,  eggs,  cheese,  and  leguminous  vege- 
tables. Suppose,  for  instance,  that  a  person 
should  try  to  live  upon  potatoes:  he  could  do 
so,  but  it  would  take  something  like  a  peck  a 
day  to  supply  all  the  different  kinds  of  nourish- 
ment required. 

Because  of  the  enormous  amount  of  non- 
leguminous  vegetable  food  one  would  have  to 
eat  to  maintain  life  in  its  highest  integrity, 
scientists  estimate  that  the  alimentary  tract  of 
human  beings  would  have  to  be  very  much 
longer  than  it  now  is  to  enable  him  to  live  on 
such  a  diet,  with  no  milk,  eggs,  or  butter. 

Strict  vegetarians  may  get  a  good  object 
lesson  from  the  digestive  apparatus  of  the  cow, 
which  has  four  stomachs  and  a  very  long  ali- 
mentary canal.  A  human  being  ought  to  re- 
alize that  he  is  not  equipped  in  any  such  fash- 
ion.    It  is  true  that  the  Chinese,  the  Hindoos, 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        85 


and  other  vegetarian  peoples  have  a  much 
longer  alimentary  canal  than  Europeans  or 
Americans,  but  this  has  been  developed  by 
many  centuries  of  herbivorous  living. 

There  is  a  great  difference  of  opinion  among 
scientists,  and  probably  there  always  will  be, 
as  to  which  is  more  advantageous  to  the  human 
race,  a  vegetable  or  a  mixed  diet,  especially 
one  in  which  meat  is  included.  Numerous  ar- 
guments have  been  advanced  on  both  sides  with 
the  advantages  and  disadvantages  seemingly 
nearly  equal.  There  is  a  homely  adage  that 
tells  us,  "The  proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the 
eating;"  and  in  this  matter,  perhaps,  the  re- 
sults obtained  from  both  systems  of  dieting 
may  best  decide  the  question. 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  determine  from 
a  study  of  the  best  authorities,  while  a  strictly 
vegetable  diet  has  many  advantages,  it  has  pro- 
duced but  few  of  the  greatest  brain  workers 
or  the  gi^eatest  achievers,  the  men  of  powerful 
initiative  and  extraordinary  executive  ability. 
The  world's  great  inventors  and  discoverers 
have,  as  a  rule,  eaten  more  or  less  meat.  The 
foremost  nations  of  the  world  have  been  meat- 
eating  people,  or  those  who  have  eaten  other 


86  Keeping  Fit 

nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  foods.  On  the 
other  hand,  what  have  the  vegetarian  nations 
achieved  in  modern  times,  especially  those  liv- 
ing on  the  more  strictly  carbonaceous  vege- 
tables and  grains? 

Take,  for  example,  the  most  progressive  of 
them,  Japan.  It  is  said  that  seventy-five  per 
cent,  of  the  Japanese  have,  until  very  recently, 
been  almost  exclusively  vegetarians.  Perhaps 
no  other  nation  has  accomplished  so  much  with 
other  people's  ideas  as  has  Japan,  but  she  has 
not  been  original.  Though  the  Japanese  have 
enriched  the  sciences  of  medicine  and  surgery, 
yet  they  have  made  no  important  discoveries 
in  these  sciences.  Originality  is  not  one  of 
their  characteristics,  but  they  are  a  wonder- 
fully ambitious  people,  quick  to  copy  and  util- 
ize the  best  in  other  nations,  and  they  are  tre- 
mendous workers. 

Then  there  is  rice-eating  India,  with  her 
teeming  millions,  a  conquered  nation,  subject 
to  the  little  island  empire  which  rules  her  from 
a  distance  of  thousands  of  miles.  Seemingly 
incapable  of  asserting  her  own  individuality, 
although  remaining  forever  apart  from  her 
conquerors,  her  position  is  anomalous  amid  the 
nations  of  the  globe. 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        87 

It  is  the  albumen-eating  people,  those  who 
get  a  great  deal  of  it  in  some  form  in  their 
food,  if  not  from  meat  then  from  its  equiva- 
lent— eggs,  milk,  cheese,  and  butter — that  have 
been  the  great  achievers,  the  most  original,  the 
most  inventive  and  progressive.  It  is  they 
who,  in  the  later  years  of  history,  have  accom- 
plished things.  They  have  been  the  great 
modern  world  movers  and  civilizers. 

This  albumen,  so  necessary  in  the  building 
and  nourishing  of  the  most  highly  developed 
type  of  man,  though  it  is  found  in  large  quan- 
tities in  animal  food,  yet  the  same  elements  are 
found  in  eggs,  milk,  fish,  cheese,  beans,  peas, 
and  lentils,  and  I  believe  that  these  are  much 
safer  sources  for  the  procuring  of  the  albu- 
men than  is  meat. 

In  animal  foods  the  food  elements  are  lifted 
one  step  above  the  vegetable  kingdom.  In 
vegetables  the  food  values  of  the  mineral  king- 
dom are  organized  and  lifted  into  a  simple 
form.  Man  eats  the  flesh  of  animals,  and,  as 
it  disintegrates,  it  drops  from  its  higher  organi- 
zation to  the  simpler  elements  from  which  it 
came,  and  in  this  dropping  it  develops  mental 
power  and  physical  force.  As  a  ball  in  falling 
from  the  top  of  a  tower  to  the  ground  develops 


88  Keeping  Fit 


exactly  enough  force  to  carry  it  back  to  the 
top  again,  minus  the  loss  through  the  friction 
of  the  air,  the  food  we  eat  releases  force  which 
we  utilize  for  living,  thinking,  and  acting. 

Another  advantage  of  animal  food,  which 
not  only  includes  the  various  meats,  but  also 
eggs,  milk,  butter,  cheese,  etc.,  is  that  the  al- 
bumen it  contains  more  closely  resembles  that 
of  the  human  tissues  and  is  more  readily  ab- 
sorbed and  assimilated  than  that  found  in  other 
food.  For  this  reason  it  is  believed  by  eminent 
physicians  who  have  made  a  special  study  of 
foods  to  be  the  best  sort  of  body  builder  and 
maintainer. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  there  are  many  cases 
where  the  tissues  have  been  greatly  depleted 
by  exhaustive  diseases,  such  as  tuberculosis, 
where  a  meat  diet,  perhaps  almost  exclusively 
meat,  for  a  while  is  desirable.  But  under  or- 
dinary conditions  I  believe  that  milk  and  eggs 
are  a  splendid  substitute  for  meat  and  that 
they  are  much  more  desirable. 

There  are  many  diseases,  such  as  those  of 
the  kidneys  and  the  liver,  in  which  a  meat  diet 
is  decidedly  harmful  and  often  dangerous. 
Experiments  on  dogs  have  shown  that  when 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        89 

by  artificial  means,  as  by  tying  the  bile  duct, 
the  functions  of  the  liver  are  shut  off  from  the 
digestive  processes,  they  will  instinctively  re- 
fuse flesh,  and  if  forced  to  eat  it  will  show 
symptoms  of  poisoning.  They  would  soon  die 
if  this  were  continued,  because  no  organ  ex- 
cept the  liver  can  neutralize  or  eliminate  the 
poisonous  substances  in  a  meat  diet. 

These  experiments  have  taught  physicians 
not  to  give  meat  or  meat  extracts  to  liver  pa- 
tients. The  same  thing  is  largely  true  of  kid- 
ney troubles.  Whenever  meat  is  given  in 
cases  of  liver  or  kidney  troubles,  it  should  be 
white,  not  red  meat,  and  should  be  boiled, 
because  this  withdraws  many  of  the  injurious 
extractives. 

We  have  seen  that  animal  food  gives  us  in 
much  smaller  bulk  than  vegetables  some  of  the 
most  important  substances  required  for  the 
body's  needs.  It  is  a  great  muscle  builder, 
though  less  so  than  beans,  peas,  lentils,  or  corn 
raised  in  the  southern  part  of  the  United 
States. 

This  accounts  for  the  fact  that,  while  strict 
vegetarians  have  greater  powers  of  endurance 
without  fatigue,  they  do  not  have  nearly  as 


90  Keeping  Fit 


much  quick  muscular  strength  as  meat  eaters. 
This  is  because  the  starches  and  cane  sugar 
of  many  fruits,  vegetables,  and  grains  have  to 
be  transformed  into  grape  sugar  before  they 
can  be  assimilated  through  digestion,  while 
the  sugars  of  meat  and  other  albuminous  sub- 
stances are  already  in  the  forms  of  grape  and 
gelatine  sugars,  which  are  quickly  absorbed. 

A  favorite  saying  of  Napoleon's  used  to  be : 
"Let  us  make  haste  to  have  our  soldiers  fight 
while  they  still  have  a  piece  of  beef  in  their 
stomachs."  Powerful  muscles  are  built  of  al- 
bumen. The  lion,  which  is  a  great  albumen 
consumer,  can  jump  over  a  fence  with  a  two- 
year-old  steer  in  his  mouth.  While  the  ox 
could  not  perform  such  a  feat,  yet  he  could 
drag  a  much  heavier  load  for  a  longer  distance 
than  the  lion  could.  The  albuminous  diet  gives 
off  a  tremendous  quick  force;  so  that,  when 
great  sudden  strength  and  energy  are  desired, 
albuminous  food  is  necessary. 

On  the  other  hand,  vegetarians  often  win 
in  athletics  because  success  in  such  matters  de- 
pends so  largely  upon  endurance;  but  where 
great  strength  is  required,  as  in  lifting,  they 
are  placed,  as  a  rule,  at  a  disadvantage  with 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        91 

the  meat  eaters.  The  Indian  guides  who  take 
tourists  up  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  and  as- 
cend the  17,000  feet  in  three  or  four  hours,  live 
exclusively  upon  a  vegetable  diet,  such  as 
dates,  rice,  etc.  These  men  are  so  thin  that 
they  are  nearly  all  skin  and  bones,  but  their 
endurance  on  the  march  is  marvelous. 

Congo  negroes  who  are  naturally  vegeta- 
rians are  also  noted  for  their  astonishing  physi- 
cal feats.  At  one  time  thirty  of  them  rowed  a 
boat  of  the  commissary  general  of  the  Congo 
army  for  thirty-six  hours,  day  and  night,  and 
this  always  against  the  current. 

It  is  a  fact  worth  noticing  that,  although 
these  negro  tribes  live  usually  upon  a  vegetable 
diet,  they  occasionally  have  a  great  craving  for 
meat,  and  when  they  get  a  kid  or  some  other 
animal  they  will  eat  it,  skin,  entrails,  eyes,  and 
all, — even  the  blood.  This  is  undoubtedly  be- 
cause of  the  great  craving  of  their  tissues  for 
more  albumen  than  they  get  in  their  vegetable 
diet. 

There  is  not  only  a  deficiency  of  albumen  in 
the  diet  of  the  strict  vegetarian,  but  a  lack  of 
fats  and  carbohydrates,  such  as  starches  and 
sugar.     In  other  words,  a  vegetable  diet  is  not 


92  Keeping  Fit 


well  balanced  in  all  of  the  three  different 
groups  of  foods  which  are  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  body — 
the  albumen,  the  carbohydrates,  and  the  fats. 
This  is  why  strict  vegetarians  are  constantly 
overtaxing  their  digestion ;  for,  in  order  to  get 
anything  like  a  balance  of  nutrition  it  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  for  health  to  take  into  the 
system  several  times  as  much  of  some  articles 
of  food  as  are  necessary  in  a  more  varied  diet. 
But  some  vegetarians  tell  me  that  they  only 
eat  the  things  which  they  crave.  True,  but 
they  may  crave  a  certain  food  just  for  the  little 
albumen  it  contains,  and  in  order  to  get  enough 
of  this  they  may  be  obliged  to  eat  a  great  deal 
too  much  of  that  particular  article,  and,  in  so 
doing,  take  into  their  systems  some  substances 
that  are  not  only  superfluous  but  injurious, 
because  their  tissues  are  already  oversupplied 
with  them.  For  example,  a  cow  which  has 
been  for  a  long  time  without  salt  will  some- 
times eat  too  much  food  which  contains  only 
a  trace  of  salt,  if  this  is  the  only  salt  obtain- 
able, because  of  the  great  craving  of  her  tissues 
for  this  special  substance.  Cattle  which  are 
deprived  of  common  salt  and  other  salts  and 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        93 

alkalies  will  often  eat  a  great  deal  of  dirt  just 
for  the  little  salt  and  lime  contained  in' the 
soil.  They  will  lick  fertilizer  bags  with  avid- 
ity for  the  potash  and  soda  in  them. 

Vegetarians  who  exclude  from  their  diet  all 
animal  products,  such  as  milk,  eggs,  and  but- 
ter, often  suffer  from  an  oversupply  of  some 
nutritious  substances  and  a  serious  lack  of 
others.  The  very  fact  that  infants  could  not 
even  be  kept  alive  upon  a  strictly  vegetable 
diet  (without  milk) ,  is  a  pretty  good  argument 
against  it.  On  the  other  hand,  a  meat  diet 
should  never  be  given  to  very  young  children, 
because  their  organism  is  not  sufficiently  devel- 
oped to  eliminate  the  chemical  poisons  which 
generate  in  the  body;  nor  should  people  in 
advanced  life  eat  much  meat,  for,  their  elimi- 
nating functions  not  being  so  active  as  when 
younger,  they  cannot  take  care  of  the  decom- 
posing animal  products,  and  hence  they  suffer 
chronically  from  poisons  of  which  their  system 
is  powerless  to  rid  itself. 

But  a  strict  vegetable  diet  which  excludes 
milk  and  eggs  is  one-sided  and  on  the  whole 
does  not  tend  to  produce  the  highest  mental 
and  physical  condition.     In  such  a  diet  there 


94  Keeping  Fit 


is  constant  danger  of  undernutrition,  espe- 
cially for  those  who  were  once  meat  eaters  and 
whose  systems  have  not  been  adjusted  to  tak- 
ing care  of  the  much  larger  necessary  vege- 
tarian bulk. 

It  has  been  observed  that  many  people  who 
live  upon  a  purely  vegetable  diet,  without  milk, 
eggs,  or  butter,  have  an  anxious,  troubled, 
drawn  expression  on  their  faces,  and  that  they 
are  often  pale,  anemic,  and  prematurely  old 
in  appearance.  This  may  be  merely  fanciful, 
for  I  know  strict  vegetarians  who  seem  to  be 
perfectly  healthy  and  strong,  and  they  claim 
that  they  are  in  much  better  health,  better 
spirits,  and  that  their  brains  are  clearer  than 
when  they  ate  meat. 

Most  strict  vegetarians  undoubtedly  suffer 
evils  which  come  from  undernutrition  of  some 
of  the  tissues.  As  a  rule  vegetarians  have  less 
disease-resisting  power  than  eaters  of  a  mixed 
diet.  A  vegetable  diet  without  milk  and  eggs 
is  especially  risky  for  those  who  have  inherited 
a  tendency  to  tuberculosis,  or  similar  diseases, 
because  the  perils  of  infection,  for  those  under- 
nourished people,  are  increased. 

Strict  vegetarians  often  suffer  deterioration 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        95 

somewhere  in  their  system,  especially  in  the 
ductless  glands,  which  govern  the  transforma- 
tion of  the  food  into  tissues,  which  generate 
heat  and  energy;  and  whatever  causes  deteri- 
oration in  these  glands,  particularly  the  thy- 
roid gland  and  the  sex  glands,  affects  the  brain 
power.  This  would  account  for  the  lack  of 
inventiveness,  ingenuity,  and  initiative  in  peo- 
ple generally  whose  food  is  seriously  lacking  in 
albumen. 

The  great  defect  in  a  strictly  vegetarian  diet 
seems  to  lie  in  the  lack  of  albumen  and  in  the 
great  danger  of  overloading  the  system  in  the 
effort  to  secure  sufficient  albumen  from  such 
a  diet. 

All  mental  and  physical  force  must  come 
from  the  blood,  and  the  blood  is  manufactured 
from  the  food  we  eat.  If  this  is  deficient  in 
quantity  and  variety  of  nutriment  the  blood  be- 
comes impoverished  and  the  quality  of  our 
thinking  will  correspond. 

Many  food  investigators  claim  that  there 
has  been  a  mental  deterioration  as  well  as  a 
falling  off  in  the  general  appearance  of  those 
who  have  adopted  an  exclusive  vegetable  diet. 
They  believe  that  strict  vegetarians  who  ex- 


96  Keeping  Fit 


elude  milk  and  eggs  do  not  generate  the  physi- 
cal and  mental  vigor,  the  brain  power,  de- 
veloped by  those  who  live  upon  a  mixed  diet. 
Of  course,  enthusiastic  vegetarians  strenuously 
deny  this,  and  also  claim  that  they  have  dis- 
covered one  of  the  great  secrets  of  power ;  that 
is,  ability  to  concentrate  the  mind  more  com- 
pletely, because  they  claim  that  their  brains 
are  clearer  and  their  blood  purer,  because  it 
does  not  contain  many  poisonous  products 
from  meat  decomposition.  They  claim  that 
the  glands,  such  as  the  liver  and  kidneys,  are 
not  so  overworked  with  a  vegetable  diet  as 
they  are  with  a  meat  diet. 

It  seems  to  me  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  a  strictly  vegetable  diet,  it 
is  not  the  kind  best  calculated  to  fulfil  the  re- 
quirements of  the  complicated  human  machine, 
and  does  not  furnish  the  best  fuel  that  can  be 
selected  for  running  it  satisfactorily. 

If  we  exclude  all  flesh  and  fish  products 
from  our  diet,  some  animal  products  like  milk, 
eggs,  butter,  and  cheese  should  be  substituted. 
They  are,  I  believe,  in  our  present  state  of  de- 
velopment, absolutely  essential  for  the  main- 
tenance of  perfect  integrity  of  the  body. 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        97 

When  we  attempt  to  live  upon  any  one  arti- 
cle alone,  or  diet  of  one  class  alone,  there  is  a 
perpetual  call  for  nutriment  in  all  of  the  tis- 
sues which  are  not  properly  supplied,  which  do 
not  get  fully  fed  by  this  particular  kind  of 
food.  There  is  no  doubt  that  many  people, 
after  a  while,  become  accustomed  to  the  semi- 
starvation  of  some  of  the  tissues  through  their 
one-sided  diet,  but  this  fact  does  not  minimize 
the  injurious  effects  of  insufficient  nourish- 
ment. Inhabitants  of  countries  where  pol- 
ished rice,  which  is  inferior  to  the  unpolished, 
is  the  chief  diet,  suffer  from  a  bad  nervous 
disease  called  beri-beri.  This  disease  was  very 
prevalent  in  the  Japanese  navy  until  meat  was 
substituted  for  rice.  The  Hindoos,  who  live 
mainly  upon  rice  and  millet  and  vegetables, 
are  always  thin,  though  rice  contains  over 
eighty  per  cent,  of  carbohydrates, — ^more  than 
any  other  vegetable. 

Nature  guides  us  instinctively  to  do  the 
things  that  are  best  for  us.  She  gives  us  a 
sort  of  instinctive  desire  for  the  foods  that  are 
best  calculated  to  build  up  and  nourish  the 
body.  Perhaps  we  never  thought  of  any  par- 
ticular reason  why  we  always  like  to  eat  meat 


98  Keeping  Fit 


and  potatoes  together.  It  is  because  the  pota- 
toes furnish  the  starch  and  sugar  which  are 
lacking  in  the  meat,  and  the  meat  contains  the 
albumen  which  is  lacking  in  the  potatoes.  If 
we  should  attempt  to  live  upon  potatoes  alone 
we  should  have  a  constant  craving  for  albu- 
men in  some  form  which  might  possibly  be 
best  supplied  in  such  things  as  eggs  and  milk 
rather  than  meat. 

Owing  to  the  large  amount  of  potash  and 
the  small  amount  of  soda  in  potatoes,  we  also 
crave  salt  with  them.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
do  not  need  salt  with  rice,  for  it  contains  plenty 
of  soda.  We  all  crave  butter  with  bread,  but 
would  not  think  of  eating  either  alone.  To- 
gether they  form  a  balanced  food,  as  palatable 
as  it  is  nutritious.  Thus  Nature  tends  to  pro- 
portion food  values  in  a  manner  best  adapted 
to  tempt  the  appetite,  to  give  us  the  greatest 
amount  of  pleasure  in  eating,  and  to  maintain 
the  integrity  of  the  body. 

In  order  to  make  up  as  far  as  possible  for 
this  lack  of  balance,  people  who  insist  upon  a 
strict  vegetable  diet  eat  a  considerable  quantity 
of  leguminous  vegetables,  such  as  beans,  peas, 
etc.,  so  that  they  may  get  as  much  albumen  as 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?        99 

possible.  When  there  is  too  little  albumen  in 
the  food,  more  fats  should  be  taken.  Many 
vegetarians  seriously  suffer  from  lack  of  fat. 
There  is  considerable  fat  in  green  vegetables, 
especially  in  those  which  are  grown  in  strong 
sunlight.  Some  kinds  of  nuts  are  very  rich 
in  fat,  which  often  makes  them  indigestible. 
Cauliflower  contains  a  large  amount  of  fat, 
but  is  easily  digested.  Mushrooms  contain 
considerable  albumen.  Tapioca,  sago,  and  rice 
are  especially  rich  in  hydrocarbons.  Aspara- 
gus is  a  very  delicious  and  nourishing  food  and 
contains  a  considerable  amount  of  iron,  potash, 
and  soda.  It  is  very  stimulating  to  the  kid- 
neys. Spinach  is  one  of  the  best  vegetable 
foods,  containing  a  large  amount  of  iron,  some 
arsenic,  and  considerable  fat.  Many  physi- 
cians prize  it  more  than  any  other  vegetable 
in  restrictive  diets.  The  chief  objection  to 
spinach  is  that  it  contains  considerable  oxalic 
acid,  and  hence  should  not  be  eaten  too  freely. 
It  is  a  pity,  however,  to  be  obliged  to  eat 
large  quantities  of  vegetable  food  in  order  to 
get  the  necessary  albumen,  when  it  could  be 
gotten  so  much  more  easily  and  conveniently 
in  an  egg-and-milk  diet,  if  meat  is  objection- 


100  Keeping  Fit 


able  or  does  not  agree  with  one.  Milk  and 
eggs  of  themselves  constitute  a  marvelous  com- 
bination. They  contain  practically  every  ele- 
ment that  enters  into  the  human  body.  They 
are  also  invaluable  as  nutriment  in  certain 
diseases. 

There  is  no  question  that  nervous  people  are 
materially  helped  by  a  vegetable  diet,  supple- 
mented with  milk  and  eggs.  Patients  suffer- 
ing from  gall-stones  are  wonderfully  relieved 
by  confining  their  food  to  milk  and  vegetables. 
Milk,  vegetables,  and  fruit,  even  when  taken  in 
large  quantities,  do  not  produce  any  harmful 
effects  on  the  liver  and  kidneys,  as  little  poison- 
ous matter  is  produced  by  intestinal  decom- 
position. 

It  is  equally  true  that  an  excessive  meat  diet 
unduly  excites  the  sexual  instincts,  the  brain, 
and  makes  one  nervous,  and  increases  the  diffi- 
culty of  bringing  the  mind  sharply  to  a  focus. 
Most  people  suffer  from  an  excess  of  solid 
food,  especially  of  meat  and  bread.  They  do 
not  eat  enough  fruit  and  vegetables  and  cere- 
als, some  of  which  are  especially  helpful  in 
eliminating  poison  from  the  system.  I  have 
known  people,  who  have  changed  from  an  al- 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?      101 

most  exclusive  regimen  of  meat  and  solid  food 
to  one  of  fruits,  vegetables,  milk,  and  eggs,  v^ho 
have  revolutionized  their  health  and  their  ap- 
pearance. They  are  more  robust ;  their  minds 
are  keener;  their  skins  are  clearer  and  softer, 
and  they  tell  me  that  they  are  not  so  suscept- 
ible to  cold,  feel  much  stronger  and  younger, 
and  can  think  and  work  better  than  they  ever 
did  before. 

When  in  doubt  about  your  diet,  or  any  par- 
ticular article  of  food,  you  are  not  likely  to 
make  a  mistake  by  substituting  milk  and  eggs 
for  meat.  Many  people  find  hot  rice  and  the 
yolks  of  eggs  very  nutritious  and  easily  di- 
gested,— but  the  rice  should  ahvays  be  unpol- 
ished. This  is  far  superior  to  the  rice  of  com- 
merce or  the  polished  variety,  nine-tenths  of 
the  nutritive  values  of  which  are  lost  in  the 
robbing  of  the  grain  of  its  shell  in  the  polish- 
ing process.  It  also  loses  its  silver  screen 
which  is  rich  in  phosphorus,  and  other  nutri- 
tive salts  which  make  the  unpolished  rice  so 
valuable. 

One  reason  why  so  many  people  think  that 
they  would  not  be  so  strong  if  they  did  not  eat 
meat  is  just  because  this  food  is  transmitted 


102  Keeping  Fit 


into  energy  so  much  more  quickly  than  a  vege- 
table diet.  But  fish  and  eggs  have  a  similar 
advantage,  and  the  latter  constitute  a  cleaner 
food,  for  they  do  not  leave  so  large  a  putre- 
factive residue  in  the  intestines  after  digestion, 
and  hence  do  not  cause  so  much  danger  from 
the  absorption  of  poisons  into  the  system. 

We  all  know  that  nothing  is  quite  so  foul 
and  repulsive  as  the  decomposition  of  a  dead 
body;  and  this  is  what  takes  place,  practically 
speaking,  in  the  system  of  habitual  meat  eaters, 
especially  excessive  meat  eaters.  Much  of  the 
meat  taken  into  the  stomach,  not  being  di- 
gested and  assimilated,  it  decomposes.  Many 
of  the  foul  poisons  from  its  decomposition  are 
absorbed  into  the  system,  and  cause  chronic  ill- 
health.  There  is  perhaps  no  one  thing  which 
causes  more  self-poisoning  and  distress,  and 
more  often  accounts  for  a  sallow,  muddy  com- 
plexion, than  too  prolonged  retention  of  food 
stuffs,  especially  meat,  in  the  body,  whether 
from  intestinal  inactivity  or  from  lack  of  regu- 
larity in  one's  habits.  When  the  food  has 
given  up  all  the  nourishment  which  the  diges- 
tive process  will  take  up  and  absorb  into  the 
system  and  properly  assimilate,  the  residue 
(usually  very  large)  is  a  menace,  and  the  re- 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?      103 

suiting  poisons  not  only  bring  on  all  sorts  of 
troubles,  such  as  biliousness,  headaches,  men- 
tal dullness,  restlessness,  and  lack  of  energy 
and  of  zest  for  life,  etc.,  but  also  lays  the  foun- 
dation of  many  a  disease. 

It  is  well  known  that,  soon  after  life  is  taken, 
decay  sets  in.  It  is  also  well  known  that  ani- 
mals are  subject  to  a  great  many  diseases 
which  it  is  very  difficult  and  often  impossible  to 
detect  without  a  scientific  chemical  examina- 
tion of  each  animal.  According  to  a  recent  re- 
port of  the  government  inspectors,  more  than 
a  million  carcasses  each  year  are  condemned 
as  unfit  for  food,  and  most  of  these  because  of 
the  presence  of  tuberculosis.  There  is  no 
doubt,  therefore,  that  meat  eaters,  in  addition 
to  the  other  diseases  to  which  human  beings 
are  exposed,  run  the  risk  of  taking  on  the  dis- 
eases of  animals.  There  is  probably  less  ten- 
dency to  the  development  of  uric  acid,  rheuma- 
tism, gout,  apoplexy  and  other  physical  ills  in 
people  who  do  not  eat  meat.  Many  of  those 
who  have  discarded  a  meat  for  a  vegetable  diet 
claim  that  they  do  not  suffer  as  formerly  with 
a  sense  of  fatigue  and  that  they  have  greater 
power  of  endurance. 

In  opposition  to  this,  brain-workers,  artists, 


104  Keeping  Fit 


writers,  some  literary  geniuses,  and  other  pro- 
fessionals who  have  experimented  with  a  vege- 
table diet  claim  that  thereby  they  experienced 
a  certain  intellectual  deterioration  or  loss  of 
mental  force,  vim,  ambition.  It  is  possible 
that  they  may  have  made  the  mistake,  as  so 
many  do,  of  a  too  sudden  change  of  regimen. 
The  adaptation  of  the  billions  of  cells  of  the 
body  to  a  certain  kind  of  nutrition  naturally 
suffers  from  violence  of  this  sort.  The  diges- 
tive organs  are  accustomed  to  doing  a  certain 
kind  of  work,  and  when  suddenly  shifted  to  an 
entirely  new  work  there  is  naturally  more  or 
less  rebellion.  Such  a  radical  transformation 
should  be  made  very  gradually,  the  change  cov- 
ering, perhaps,  many  months.  I  know  people 
who,  after  a  lifetime  of  meat  eating,  have  sud- 
dently  adopted  a  vegetable  diet,  and  have 
deteriorated  physically  and  mentally.  Such 
violent  changes  wrench  one  out  of  a  habit, 
which  has  become  largely  normal,  because  the 
tissues  have  become  adjusted  to  that  order  of 
living.     They  should  be  avoided. 

For  many  people  fish  is  an  excellent  substi- 
tute for  meat,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  most 
of  us  would  be  greatly  benefited  by  omitting 


A  Vegetable  or  Mixed  Diet?      105 

meat  altogether,  and  substituting  milk,  fish, 
and  eggs.  This  should  be  done  very  gradually, 
so  that  our  cell  life  may  become  accustomed 
to  the  change  without  any  shocks. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  there  is  a  grow- 
ing tendency  among  intelligent  people  to  eat 
less  and  less  meat.  It  is  mv  belief  that  it 
should  not  be  eaten  more  than  once  a  day,  if  at 
all,  and  then  very  sparingly  and  not  at  the 
morning  meal. 

Anthropologists  tell  us  that  man,  in  the 
early  stages  of  his  evolution,  was  a  fruit-eating 
animal  and  lived  largely  in  trees;  and  that, 
five  thousand  years  before  Christ,  he  began  to 
make  spearheads  and  knives  from  flint,  first 
for  defence  and  attack,  and  then  for  killing 
game,  which  he  ate  in  connection  with  his 
former  food.  After  centuries  of  experiment 
with  a  flesh  diet,  shall  we  become  again  a  non- 
meat-eating  people? 

When  all  the  arguments  for  and  against  a 
strictly  vegetable  diet  on  the  one  side  and  a 
meat  diet  on  the  other  have  been  weighed,  I, 
personally,  think  we  can  safely  omit  meat  and 
get  the  same  nitrogenous  food  values  in  other 
articles  which  will  keep  the  muscles,  nerves. 


106  Keeping  Fit 


and  other  solid  bodily  tissues  in  good  condition. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  kill  animals  for  food. 
Milk,  cheese,  butter,  eggs,  etc.,  are  splendid 
substitutes  for  meat.  Neither  is  it  necessary  to 
be  strict  vegetarians.  I  take  the  middle  ground, 
and  am  fully  in  accord  with  the  views  of 
the  greatest  modern  authorities  on  food  values. 
They  claim  that,  taken  all  in  all,  the  best  known 
diet,  everything  considered,  is  a  vegetable  diet, 
plus  milk,  eggs,  butter,  and  cheese.  I  am  con- 
fident that  this  offers  many  of  the  advan- 
tages and  very  few  of  the  disadvantages  of 
either  an  exclusive  vegetable  or  meat  diet. 


V 

NATURE^'S   OWN    FOOD 

"An't  please  your  honor,"  quoth  the  peasant. 
This  same  dessert  is  not  so  pleasant; 
Give  me  again  my  hollow  tree, 
A  crust  of  bread,  and  liberty." 

— Alexander  Pope. 

His  thirst  he  slakes  at  some  pure  neighboring  brook. 
Nor  seeks  for  sauce  where  Appetite  stands  cook. 

— Charles  Churchill. 

Like  the  sap  that  turns  to  nectar  in  the  velvet  of  the  peach, 

— William   Wallace    Harney. 

For  he  on  honey-dew  hath  fed, 
And  drunk  the  milk  of  paradise. 

— S.  T.  Coleridge. 

Everything  which  feeds  the  body  can  be 
traced  to  the  chemistry  of  the  sun,  the  soil,  and 
moisture. 

Fruit  and  water,  two  of  Nature's  most 
valuable  food  products,  come  to  us  from  her 
laboratory  all  ready  for  consumption.  They 
need  no  preparation  at  the  hands  of  man  to 
make  them  more  palatable.     The  most  cun- 

107 


108  Keeping  Fit 


ning  treatment  by  the  most  skillful  chef  can- 
not improve  their  flavor. 

Fruit  is  concentrated  sunshine,  condensed 
force.  It  is  adapted  to  people  of  all  ages  and 
conditions,  and  is  especially  desirable  for  those 
in  advancing  years.  Its  food  values  lie  in  the 
sugar,  salts,  acids,  water,  potash,  lime,  iron, 
etc.,  which  it  contains.  Some  fruits  are  par- 
ticularly rich  in  such  important  substances  as 
iron  and  lime.  All  of  these  substances  are  of 
the  greatest  value  in  the  building  and  nutri- 
tion of  the  body,  but  they  produce  their  normal 
effect  only  when  the  fruit  has  been  ripened  in 
the  sun. 

The  general  impression  that  fruit  is  a  very 
healthful  diet  is  a  correct  one.  But  most  peo- 
ple jump  to  the  conclusion  that  fruit,  if  fruit, 
must  be  good  anyway.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
this  is  not  so.  For  example,  fruit  that  is  gath- 
ered too  early,  in  order  to  be  in  better  condi- 
tion to  ship  long  distances  to  market,  has  not 
been  exposed  to  the  sun  sufficiently  long  to 
have  its  injurious  acids  extracted.  These 
acids  abnormally  hasten  digestion  and  hurry 
the  food  contents  along  so  rapidly  in  the  ali- 
mentary tract  that  the  digestive  processes  are 


Nature^s  Own  Food  109 

very  imperfect.  The  chemical  changes  in  this 
half-digested  material  generate  poisons  which 
are  most  injurious.  The  result  is  that  the 
eaters  of  unripe  fruit  not  only  do  not  get  the 
benefit  of  ripe  fruit  juices,  the  starch  of  which 
the  sun  has  actually  digested  into  sugar,  thus 
preparing  it  for  the  body,  but  instead  they  get 
juices  which  are  actually  harmful. 

There  is  always  a  large  surplus  of  acids  in 
green  fruit,  like  unripe  apples,  plums,  goose- 
berries, etc.  Children  often  eat  them,  and 
sometimes  grown  people,  and  experience  the 
effects  of  too  rapid  digestion.  The  laxative 
tendency  of  unripe  fruit  often  deceives  people, 
and  they  take  it  for  granted  that  they  are  be- 
ing benefited,  when  they  are  positively  being 
injured.  Owing  to  the  hurrying  of  the  food 
mass  along  the  alimentary  canal  the  various 
digestive  fluids  which  are  pouring  into  this 
tract  at  different  points,  in  order  to  perform 
their  specific  digestive  functions,  do  not  get  a 
chance  to  do  so,  and  the  consequence,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  is  a  very  imperfect  diges- 
tion and  the  development  of  injurious  poisons. 

Not  only  all  green,  immature  fruits  and 
vegetables,  but  also  half-grown  cereals  hurry 


110  Keeping  Fit 


the  digestive  processes  so  rapidly  that  the  nu- 
tritive values  of  even  the  healthful  foods  taken 
at  the  same  time  are  not  extracted,  absorbed, 
and  assimilated.  Consequently,  the  vitality  is 
lowered  and  the  resisting  power  of  the  body  is 
lessened. 

Fruit  should  never  be  eaten  until  actually 
ripe,  and  the  sun  should  do  the  ripening.  Much 
of  the  fruit  that  is  shipped  across  the  continent 
is  gathered  in  a  very  green  state,  long  before 
the  sun  has  had  an  opportunity  to  work  its 
marvel  in  it,  extracting  the  injurious  acids, 
and  by  chemical  transformations  changing  the 
crude,  sour  juices  into  sugar. 

All  half-grown  or  prematurely  gathered 
fruit  should  be  condemned.  Bananas,  for  ex- 
ample, are  sent  long  distances  to  us  before  the 
sun  has  had  a  chance  to  perform  its  miracle  of 
chemical  changes,  and,  as  a  consequence,  mul- 
titudes of  people  are  seriously  injured  by  what 
would  be  a  perfectly  delicious  and  most  health- 
ful fruit,  if  it  were  only  allowed  to  ripen  natur- 
ally in  the  sunshine.  As  bananas  are  now 
shipped  it  is  not  safe  to  eat  them  until  black 
spots  begin  to  appear  on  the  skin,  and  even 
then  they  only  contain  a  comparatively  small 


Nature's  Own  Food  111 

part  of  their  possible  value.  Most  people  are 
entirely  ignorant  of  the  nutritive  value  of  this 
fruit,  because  it  is  eaten  in  a  half-developed, 
unripe  condition.  A  perfectly  ripe  banana  is 
a  very  nutritious  and  eminently  natural  food. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  value 
of  ripe  fruit,  that  which  has  had  the  sun  miracle 
performed  upon  it,  which  has  ripened  natur- 
ally, and  the  half-developed  green  fruit  which 
people  are  forced  to  eat  because  they  cannot 
get  the  other.  Green,  immature  fruits  contain 
substances  which  are  positively  poisonous  to 
the  body,  and  multitudes  who  eat  them  suffer 
from  chronic  fruit  poisoning  and  do  not  know 
what  is  the  matter  with  them.  In  order  to 
make  it  more  palatable  many  people  put  sugar 
upon  this  green,  unripe  fruit,  but  this  actually 
changes  the  natural  sugar  into  an  unnatural 
substance. 

The  sun  is  the  great  giver  of  life,  and  it 
should  have  an  opportunity  to  finish  its  work. 
Its  heat  is  just  as  necessary  for  the  ripening 
of  fruit  as  the  heat  of  the  oven  is  for  the  bak- 
ing of  bread  and  other  cereals.  It  changes 
its  chemical  composition,  developing  new  fla- 
vors and  healthful  substances. 


112  Keeping  Fit 


The  time  will  come  when  no  fruits  or  vege- 
tables will  be  allow^ed  to  be  gathered  until  the 
great  Chemist  of  nature  has  completed  his 
work  in  them.  Government  food  experts  will 
seize  and  destroy  all  kinds  of  half-grown,  half- 
ripened  fruits  and  vegetables  that  are  exposed 
for  sale.  The  selfish  commercial  motto  of  to- 
day, "Anything  which  wdll  sell,  whether  it  is 
healthful  or  not,"  will  not  be  tolerated.  It  will 
not  be  possible  to  do  what  men  are  at  present 
doing, — scientifically  growing  fruits  not  with 
a  view  to  generating  and  developing  healthful 
articles,  but  of  producing  fruits  which  will  ship 
well.  One  of  these  products  which  commer- 
cial plunderers  are  now  breeding  is  a  hard, 
juiceless  apple,  whose  chief  value  is  that  it 
keeps  a  long  time.  It  has  very  little  of  the 
nourishment  and  the  delicious  starchy  sugar 
products  which  abounded  in  the  apples  for- 
merly produced  in  the  Eastern  States,  espe- 
cially in  New  England.  Beware  of  these 
products  of  commercial  greed!  Eat  less  fruit, 
if  you  must,  but  let  it  be  a  natural  product, 
ripe,  wholesome,  nutritious. 

Fortunately,  we  have  a  great  variety  of  ex- 
cellent fruits,  both  home-grown  and  imported, 


Nature^s  Own  Food  113 

fresh  and  dried,  from  which  to  choose,  and 
many  of  them  are  so  cheap  that  they  are  within 
the  reach  of  all  but  the  very  poor.  Even  they 
eat  a  great  many  bananas  which,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  they  lose  much  of  their  natural 
value  by  not  being  ripened  in  the  sun,  still  con- 
tain a  great  deal  of  nutrition.  Indeed,  the 
banana  has  been  called  "the  poor  man's  beef- 
steak." When  well  masticated  and  eaten 
alone  it  is  easily  digested.  Many  people  make 
the  mistake  of  eating  too  many  kinds  of  food 
with  bananas. 

Oranges,  lemons,  and  grapefruits  are  excel- 
lent popular  fruits;  the  two  former  we  have 
with  us  nearly  the  year  round,  and  the  grape- 
fruit a  good  part  of  it.  All  three  are  great 
aids  to  digestion.  An  orange  or  a  portion  of 
grapefruit  is  especially  beneficial  when  eaten 
before  breakfast. 

Lemons  are  perhaps  the  most  valuable  of 
the  three.  They  are  extremely  healthful  and 
are  splendid  sterilizers  of  poisonous  substances. 
Physicians  claim  that  they  will  even  sterilize 
liquids  containing  typhoid  fever  and  other  dis- 
ease germs.  The  lemon  juice  tends  to  keep 
the  digestive  tract  clear  of  germs  and  is  a  splen- 


114  Keeping  Fit 


did  antiseptic.  Lemonade  makes  a  delicious 
and  refreshing  drink  in  summer.  Most  people 
would  be  much  healthier  if  they  would  eat  more 
lemons. 

Nothing  can  be  more  healthful  than  apples, 
which,  like  oranges  and  lemons,  we  have  all  the 
year  round.  They  are  also,  like  citric  fruits, 
aids  to  digestion.  This  is  true  of  most  fruits, 
fresh  or  dried.  Plums,  cherries,  strawberries, 
pears,  grapes,  pineapples,  currants,  raspber- 
ries, peaches,  should  be  eaten  plentifully  in 
season.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  eat  too 
much  fruit,  and  this  is  as  harmful  as  eating 
too  much  of  any  other  one  kind  of  food. 

Too  much  fruit  or  too  large  an  amount  of 
vegetables,  like  too  much  meat,  overworks  the 
liver  and  causes  biliousness,  skin  troubles,  con- 
stipation, etc.  Some  people,  when  they  read 
an  article  about  the  great  value  of  fruit  as  a 
food,  pretty  nearly  live  on  it,  until  they  find 
that  they  are  running  down.  They  feel  fairly 
well,  but  as  fruit,  at  least  in  our  climate,  does 
not  generate  sufficient  staying  power,  they 
soon  find  they  must  add  other  articles  to  their 
diet.  That  is,  the  system  requires  considerable 
solid  food,  such  as  breadstuff s,  and  other  things 


Nature^s  Own  Food  115 

which  furnish  the  body  with  necessary  ingre- 
dients not  contained  in  fruit  or  vegetables,  or 
not  in  sufficient  quantities  to  supply  its  needs. 

Many  people  eat  fruit  with  milk  and  sugar. 
These  tend  to  change  the  natural  acids  into  an 
abnormal  product.  As  a  rule,  it  is  better  to 
eat  fresh  fruits  alone,  without  sugar,  cream, 
or  any  other  accompaniment.  Every  fruit, 
even  the  lemon,  has  an  amount  of  natural 
sugar  which  is  usually  in  the  right  proportion 
to  be  healthful.  There  is  no  more  delicious 
fruit,  for  example,  than  strawberries ;  but  most 
people  so  smother  them  in  sugar  and  cream 
that  they  not  only  neutralize  much  of  their 
healthful  effect,  but  they  lose  altogether  their 
delicate  flavor.  We  do  not  get  the  best  effect 
of  this  or  any  other  fruit  when  we  use  sugar 
with  it. 

The  juices  of  ripe  fruit  are  especially  good 
for  the  liver,  whereas  too  much  sugar  produces 
a  torpid  liver  and  hence  biliousness.  In  win- 
ter, when  we  have  few,  if  any,  fresh  fruits, 
dried  varieties,  dates,  figs,  raisins,  prunes,  etc., 
may  be  substituted  with  advantage. 

In  the  matter  of  fruits,  as  in  all  other  things, 
Nature  has  provided  that  we  shall  have  them  in 


116  Keeping  Fit 


the  greatest  variety  and  abundance  during  the 
seasons  when  we  need  them  most — spring  and 
summer.  Fruits  and  vegetables  are  then  at 
their  best,  just  when  the  body  especially  re- 
quires their  cleansing  and  cooling  effects. 

A  century  ago,  when  sailors  took  long  sea 
voyages  on  sailing  ships,  they  were  much 
afraid  of  the  dread  disease,  scurvy.  This  dis- 
ease is  largely  due  to  the  lack  of  certain  ele- 
ments in  fruits  and  vegetables  which  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  perfect  bodily  health.  As 
there  were  no  refrigerating  plants  in  those 
days,  or  other  means  of  keeping  perishable 
foods  in  good  condition,  the  sailors  lived  on  salt 
meat,  biscuits,  very  poor  water,  and  alcoholic 
drinks.  Some  of  the  things  that  were  lacking 
in  this  diet  were  salts  of  potash  and  lime  which 
the  blood  must  have  in  order  to  maintain  its 
purity. 

Captain  Cook,  who  was  the  first  man  to  sail 
around  the  world,  made  a  study  of  scurvy  and 
discovered  its  cause;  and,  although  he  could 
not  take  sufficient  fruits  and  fresh  vegetables 
to  last  many  months,  he  found  that  lemons  may 
well  be  used  as  a  sort  of  substitute.  The  re- 
sult was  that  after  a  four  years'  voyage  the 


Nature^s  Own  Food  117 


great  explorer  returned  to  England  having 
lost  only  four  men  from  scurvy. 

Explorers  to-day  dread  scurvy  more  than 
anything  else,  owing  to  the  fearful  ravages  it 
works  on  the  human  system.  Commander 
Evans,  one  of  the  companions  of  the  heroic 
Captain  Scott  on  his  famous  dash  to  the  South 
Pole,  in  a  lecture  given  in  New  York  a  short 
time  ago,  said,  "I  will  always  have  scars  in  my 
lips  where  I  bit  through  the  flesh  when  the 
agony  of  my  disease  [scurvy],  gripped  me." 
Again,  showing  the  value  of  fruit  and  vege- 
tables in  healing  the  disease,  "I  was  revived 
sufficiently  to  be  fed  fried  onions,  which  helped 
my  scurvy  greatly,  and  in  a  day  or  so  I  could 
eat  a  little  fruit." 

Many  people  of  rheumatic  tendencies  eat 
but  little  fruit  because  they  are  afraid  of  too 
great  an  amount  of  acids.  But  they  will  find, 
by  experimenting  with  different  kinds  of  fruit, 
some  which  will  not  only  not  disagree  with 
them,  but  will  rather  be  a  great  help  in  wash- 
ing out  the  earthy  salts  deposited  in  the  tis- 
sues, thus  helping  to  preserve  their  health  and 
to  lengthen  their  lives. 

Water,  next  to  air,  is  the  most  important 


118  Keeping  Fit 


element  in  sustaining  life.  Just  its  exact  use 
in  the  system  aside  from  flushing  and  cleansing 
the  tissues  and  facilitating  the  distribution  of 
more  solid  food  material  is  unknown. 

We  do  know  that  water  constitutes  more 
than  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  entire  weight  of 
the  body;  that  it  enters  very  largely  into  the 
structure  of  all  foodstuffs,  and  that  it  is  found 
in  all  the  tissues  of  the  body.  On  the  other 
hand,  while  there  is  a  great  deal  of  mineral 
nutriment  in  our  drinking  water,  picked  up  as 
streams  run  over  the  soil  dissolving  the  min- 
erals, we  know  that  water  cannot  build  tissue, 
or  furnish  heat  or  energy  or  repair  waste. 
Yet  a  great  deal  of  water  is  absolutely  indis- 
pensable to  our  diet,  and  human  life  has  been 
sustained  for  long  periods  on  water  alone. 

The  importance  of  water  in  the  system  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  body  of  a  person 
weighing  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  would 
contain  nearly  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds  of 
water.  Much  of  this,  however,  comes  from 
fruit  and  vegetables,  of  which  water  forms 
something  like  ninety  per  cent. 

When,  for  any  reason,  there  is  a  lack  of 
water  in  our  system,  our  muscles  lose  their 


Nature^s  Own  Food  119 

elasticity  and  resilience  and  the  cells  become 
shriveled.  All  the  cells  in  the  body  would  be 
completely  ruined  if  all  their  water  were  ex- 
tracted and  they  were  allowed  to  become  dry. 
There  is  not  a  single  brain  cell  that  could  sur- 
vive the  loss  of  all  its  water.  So,  while  not  in 
itself  a  food,  water  supplies  a  great  want 
everywhere  in  the  system.  When  we  drink 
too  little  of  it,  chemical  poisons  from  food  com- 
bustion and  wear  and  tear  in  the  system  ac- 
cumulate with  disastrous  results. 

Animals  and  birds  often  die  for  lack  of 
water.  I  once  knew  of  a  man  who  kept  a  rab- 
bit with  a  large  litter  of  young  ones  without 
any  water  whatever.  He  said  it  was  bad  for 
rabbits.  Think  of  the  mother  supplying  these 
young  ones  with  milk  and  herself  getting  noth- 
ing but  dry  food  like  barley!  Of  course  the 
poor  animal  died. 

Few  people  drink  enough  water.  All  the 
tissues  of  the  body  require  it,  in  varying 
amounts.  There  are  multitudes  of  employees 
in  shops,  factories,  and  offices  who  scarcely 
taste  water  during  the  day.  The  result  is  that 
the  solid  portions  of  their  food  are  not  properly 
diluted,  hence,  not  properly  distributed,  and 


120  Keeping  Fit 


the  waste  products,  the  broken-down  cells  from 
muscular  and  brain  activities,  are  not  carried 
away,  because  there  is  not  sufficient  water  in 
the  blood  to  properly  flush  the  cells.  The 
blood  is  too  thick. 

A  great  many  people,  especially  women, 
purposely  refrain  from  drinking  water  because 
they  are  afraid  it  will  make  them  fat.  This  is 
a  great  mistake,  as  it  has  been  proved  that, 
under  no  circumstances,  whether  drunk  while 
eating  or  between  meals,  does  water  make 
flesh.  While  drinking  at  meals  is  not  so  in- 
jurious as  many  think  it  is,  it  is  best  to  take 
between  meals  a  large  proportion  of  the  fluids 
used,  unless  one  has  a  weak  circulation,  when 
he  should  be  very  careful  about  drinking  much 
before  violent  exercise,  as  this  causes  unneces- 
sary strain  upon  the  heart.  Mineral  waters 
should  be  used  with  caution,  especially  if  con- 
taining much  mineral  matter. 

Some  people  are  injured  by  adopting  the 
water  fad.  Having  been  told  by  physicians 
that  the  majority  of  people  suffer  from  taking 
too  little  liquid,  that  the  cells  are  kept  too  dry 
to  perform  their  normal  functions,  they  go  to 
the  other  extreme  and  drink  too  much.     The 


Nature's  Own  Food  121 

consequence  is  that  they  take  so  much  liquid 
into  their  stomachs  that  they  not  only  dilute 
the  digestive  fluids  too  much,  but  they  also 
hasten  the  food  products  too  rapidly  along  the 
alimentary  canal,  getting  very  serious  results 
in  imperfect  digestion  and  mal-assimilation. 
Too  much  v/ater  puts  too  great  stress  upon  the 
digestive  organs. 

We  must  use  common  sense  and  good  judg- 
ment in  all  matters  relating  to  food  and  drinks ; 
and  not  be  carried  away  by  fads  or  extremes 
in  any  direction.  Although  all  foods  contain 
a  great  deal  of  water,  it  is  necessary  to  take  it 
into  the  system  in  liquid  form  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent.  Thirst  is  merely  a  call  of  the  cell 
life  for  water  which  is  so  rapidly  evaporated 
and  excreted  from  the  body;  and,  when  the 
amounts  of  liquids  is  reduced  below  a  certain 
percentage,  the  tissues  cannot  get  the  nutri- 
ment they  require  from  solid  foods.  For  this 
reason,  a  large  amount  of  fluid  is  necessary  to 
dissolve  the  food  substances  so  that  they  can 
be  absorbed  and  appropriated  bv  the  various 
tissues. 

Man  needs  water,  just  as  plants  need  it.  He 
absorbs  it,  just  as  they  do.     We  have  probably 


122  Keeping  Fit 


all  noticed  that  bathing  will  relieve  thirst,  be- 
cause the  liquid  is  absorbed  into  the  body 
through  the  pores. 

A  last  word  on  the  subject:  be  sure  that  the 
water  you  drink  is  absolutely  pure.  Nothing 
is  more  dangerous  to  health  and  life  itself  than 
impure  water. 


VI 

HOW  FOOD  AFFECTS  CHARACTER 

"We  who  did  our  lineage  high 
Draw  from  beyond  the  starry  sky. 
Are  yet,  upon  the  other  side. 
To  earth  and  to  its  dust  allied." 

To  be  strong 
Is  to  be  happy. — H.  W.  Longfellow. 

Without  health  life  is  lifeless. — From  the  Greek. 

From  labor  health,  from  health  contentment  springs; 
Contentment  opes  the  source  of  every  joy. 

— James  Beattie. 

All  human  history  attests 
That  happiness   for  man, — the  hungry  sinner! — 
Since  Eve  ate  apples,  much  depends  on  dinner. 

— Byron.  , 

'^Malnutrition  is  responsible  for  criminal- 
ity in  many  cases,  and  by  proper  feeding  of 
criminals  their  criminal  tendencies  may,  to 
some  extent  at  least,  be  removed,"  says  Dr.  A. 
F.  Gillihan,  Health  Director  of  Oakland,  Cali- 
fornia. 

In  conjunction  with  Muer  E.  Jaflfa,  Pro- 

123 


124  Keeping  Fit 


fessor  of  Nutrition  at  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia, Dr.  Gillihan  recently  arranged  a  sched- 
ule of  scientific  dieting  for  prisoners  in  the 
Oakland  jail.  He  believes  that  his  experi- 
ments with  the  prison  diet  will  prove  the  truth 
of  his  theory,  that  malefactors  while  in  prison 
may  be  put  on  such  a  diet  as  will  relieve  them 
of  their  vicious  tendencies  and  restore  them  to 
liberty  better  able  to  withstand  temptation  and 
less  likely  to  revert  to  criminality. 

Thirty-nine  of  the  unemployed  men  who 
were  taken  out  of  the  "bread  line"  in  New 
York  some  time  ago  were  found  to  be  totally 
unfit  for  work.  Owing  to  lack  of  nourish- 
ment, they  had  become  impoverished  physi- 
cally and  mentally  and  were  not  in  condition 
to  perform  the  duties  of  positions  offered  to 
them.  How  long  would  it  be  before  men 
undergoing  such  privations  would  be  driven 
to  desperation  and  the  possible  development  of 
criminal  tendencies? 

There  is  a  great  truth  in  the  German  prov- 
erb, "As  a  man  eateth,  so  is  he."  Insufficient 
diet,  or  devitalized  food,  frequently  badly 
cooked  or  unsuited  to  one's  needs,  causes  slow 
starvation  in  the  tissues  and  consequent  phy- 


How  Food  Affects  Charactek     125 

sical  and  mental  deterioration.  What  we  eat 
and  how  we  eat  it  not  only  affect  our  efficiency, 
but  also  very  materially  determine  our  dis- 
position, our  temperament,  and  not  infre- 
quently our  characters. 

How  few  realize  to  what  an  extent  not  only 
their  success  or  failure,  but  not  one  whit  less 
their  popularity  or  lack  of  it,  depends  upon 
their  diet ! 

How  many,  for  example,  suffer  tortures 
from  "nerves"  who  would  get  relief  by  eating 
proper  food!  They  go  through  life  cross, 
crabbed,  crotchety,  burdens  to  themselves  and 
all  who  know  them,  largely  because  they  eat 
wrong  things,  which  tend  to  irritate  their  ner- 
vous systems,  which  do  not  properly  nourish 
them,  and  which  do  not  in  any  sense  supply 
their  individual  needs.  Most  of  them  are  meat 
eaters,  and  do  not  know  that  such  food,  espe- 
cially if  red  meat,  is  too  stimulating  for  ner- 
vous people.  They  would  be  materially  helped 
by  substituting  a  vegetable  diet,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  milk,  eggs,  butter,  and  other  milk  prod- 
ucts. Some  vegetables,  like  celery  and  let- 
tuce, whether  eaten  singly  or  in  salad  form, 
are  especially  good  for  the  nerves.     They  have 


126  Keeping  Fit 


a  soothing  effect  and  tend  to  produce  refresh- 
ing sleep,  and  are  particularly  good  for  suf- 
ferers from  insomnia.  Asparagus  is  similarly 
beneficial. 

Many  dispositions  are  ruined  by  poorly 
chosen  food.  Dyspepsia  or  any  other  ailment 
induced  by  wrong  eating,  makes  them  pes- 
simistic, gloomy,  discouraged.  They  cast  a 
shadow  of  gloom  and  walk  in  it,  as  it  were, 
wherever  they  go.  They  antagonize  others 
when  they  do  not  mean  to.  They  cannot  seem 
to  get  on.  They  are  failures, — victims  of  bad 
food. 

Everywhere  we  see  business  men,  profes- 
sional men,  men  in  every  walk  of  life,  who 
are  chronic  dyspeptics,  cross  and  crabbed  with 
their  help,  sour  and  irritable  at  home,  and 
misery-makers  of  everybody  around  them  be- 
cause they  never  learned  the  science  of  proper 
eating. 

Thousands  of  homes  are  made  wretched  and 
discordant  because  of  the  nature  of  the  food  or 
by  poor  cooking.  Nothing  will  ruin  the  peace 
of  a  family  more  effectively  than  bad  digestion. 
One  dyspeptic  member  will  banish  the  rightful 
happiness  of  a  whole  household. 


How  Food  Affects  Character     127 


How  sad  it  is  to  see  the  faces  of  once  beauti- 
ful women  deeply  furrowed  with  wrinkles, 
made  ugly  by  fretting  and  nagging  caused  by 
preventable  dyspepsia! 

I  know  of  a  family  almost  every  member  of 
which  has  had  dyspepsia  for  years,  and  they 
are  continually  quarreling,  bickering  and  fault- 
finding, especially  at  table.  In  fact,  the  fam- 
ily board  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  clearing  house 
for  the  display  of  bad  temper.  It  is  a  com- 
mon thing  for  one  or  more  to  get  angry  and 
leave  before  a  meal  is  finished.  More  than 
once  they  have  been  known  to  throw  articles 
at  one  another  across  the  table.  Sometimes 
their  heated  discussions,  in  which  there  is  much 
bad  blood,  will  last  until  they  are  exhausted. 
No  two  members  of  this  family  seem  to  be 
able  to  agree  about  anything. 

More  suffering  and  discord  are  caused  by  too 
much  food  than  by  the  want  of  it.  More  homes 
are  wrecked  by  the  sins  of  overeating  than  by 
hunger.  More  tempers  are  ruined  by  indiges- 
tion, by  foolish  diet  and  by  bad  cooking  than 
in  any  other  way.  Many  a  home  has  been 
wrecked,  many  a  divorce  has  been  caused  by 
improper  food.     Half  of  the  fretting,  worry- 


128  Keeping  Fit 


ing,  faultfinding,  and  nagging  in  the  world  is 
caused  by  overeating,  undereating,  or  eating 
wrong  kinds  of  food. 

Envy,  jealousy,  and  selfishness  are  exag- 
gerated by  table  sins;  sweet  tempers  are 
ruined,  equable  dispositions  are  unbalanced. 
Often  a  naturally  sweet-tempered  mother  will 
"fly  all  to  pieces"  with  irritability  over  trifles 
because  her  stomach  is  out  of  order. 

Oh,  the  wastes  of  life,  the  sins  of  life,  the 
misfortunes,  the  crimes,  the  worries,  the  fret- 
ting, the  nagging  caused  by  bad  food! 

There  is  an  intimate  relation  between  health 
and  morals.  Dr.  Max  Groszman,  of  New 
York,  has  made  an  exhaustive  study  of  the 
relation  of  indigestion  and  lying.  He  says 
that  people  who  are  naturally  truthful  develop 
a  decided  tendency  toward  deception,  which 
even  grows  to  lying,  when  suffering  severely 
with  indigestion.  There  seems  to  be  a  pretty 
close  relation  between  one's  stomach  and  his 
morals. 

When  one  is  ill  or  is  distressed  from  indi- 
gestion or  dyspepsia,  the  world  takes  on  a  cor- 
respondingly somber  hue.  Courage  is  very 
dependent  upon  the  physical  condition.    It  is 


How  Food  Affects  Character     129 

hard  for  a  man  to  be  courageous  when  suffer- 
mg  from  physical  ills,  when  he  is  downhearted 
and  discouraged ;  hence,  when  truth-telling  in- 
volves any  unpleasant  consequences  for  him- 
self, the  sufferer  is  tempted  to  misrepresent. 

Invalids  —  especially  nervous  invalids  — 
frank,  outspoken,  courageous  when  strong 
and  vigorous,  will  often  deceive,  because  they 
do  not  feel  physically  able  to  tell  the  exact 
truth  when  their  own  interests  and  comfort 
are  at  stake. 

Cheerfulness,  which  is  our  duty  for  others' 
sakes  and  which  makes  the  sunshine  of  char- 
acter, takes  flight  with  courage  also.  The 
whole  world  of  the  dyspeptic  is  clouded  by 
gloom,  which  sometimes  lifts  only  to  plunge 
him  into  deeper  darkness  than  before.  His 
conversation  is  fitful  and  uncertain.  What 
was  bright  and  cheerful  and  sunny  yesterday 
may  be  black  and  forbidding  and  melancholy 
to-day. 

yVe  want  a  man  who  is  well  balanced  and  is 
not  cursed  with  some  little  defect  or  weakness 
which  cripples  his  usefulness  and  neutralizes 
his  powers.  We  want  a  man  of  cheerfulness 
and  courage,  who  is  not  a  coward  in  any  part 


130  Keeping  Fit 


of  his  nature.  No  one  is  qualified  to  live  sanely 
and  bravely  unless  he  has  superb  health,  and 
in  most  cases  his  food  makes  or  mars  this. 

In  reply  to  some  enthusiastic  admirer,  who 
was  lauding  her  husband's  genius,  Jane  Welch 
Carlyle  said,  "Aye,  man,  but  think  what  he 
would  have  been  if  he  had  had  a  stomach!" 

"Who  does  not  know,"  says  Dr.  William 
Matthews,  "that  nine- tenths  of  the  ill  humor, 
fretfulness,  and  despondency  of  men  springs 
from  ill  health?  Who  that  has  read  the  biog- 
raphy of  Carlyle,  that  Prometheus  with  a  vul- 
ture forever  at  his  heart,  does  not  remember 
with  what  deep  suffering  this  strong  spirit 
struggled  through  the  long,  weary  years 
against  his  tormentor?  How  much  of  the 
irritability,  crabbedness,  and  censoriousness 
which  he  manifested  were  due,  not  to  a  natu- 
rally bad  temper,  but  to  the  pangs  of  an  ob- 
stinate malady  by  which  his  whole  nature  was 
warped  and  distorted?" 

If  Carlyle  could  have  made  a  scientific  study 
of  food,  he  would  no  doubt  have  been  able  to 
rid  himself  of  the  dyspepsia  which  ruined  his 
stomach  and  darkened  his  life. 

I  believe  that  our  religious  views  are  very 


How  Food  Affects  Character     131 

materially  affected  by  our  food.  If  Calvin  had 
lived  an  entirely  different  life;  if  he  had  had 
a  different  diet  and  plenty  of  outdoor  exercise, 
if  he  had  played  golf  and  tennis,  he  would 
have  given  the  world  a  very  different  kind  of 
theology.  It  is  difficult  for  a  theologian,  even 
with  the  aid  of  his  Christianity,  to  get  very 
far  away  from  his  stomach  as  far  as  his  views 
are  concerned.  They  would  depend  a  great 
deal  upon  his  digestion,  and  that  would  limit 
his  mental  outlook.  It  makes  a  great  differ- 
ence in  one's  manner  of  looking  at  things 
whether  he  is  an  optimist  or  a  pessimist,  and 
his  food  will  go  very  far  toward  determining 
this. 

The  connection  between  the  mental  and  the 
physical  is  so  close  and  sympathetic  that  one 
is  constantly  reacting  upon  the  other.  It  is 
very  important,  therefore,  that  all  of  us  should 
be  properly  fed.  It  is  especially  important  for 
the  young  to  keep  strong  and  robust  physi- 
cally, for  this  helps  them  fundamentally  in 
their  character  building.  Right  eating  is  right 
living. 

Some  philosophers  have  tried  to  exalt  sickli- 
ness into  saintliness,  and  to  laud  infirmity  as  a 


132  Keeping  Fit 


means  of  spiritual  growth.  Clergymen  used 
to  tell  us  that  pain,  weakness  and  disease  have 
a  chastening  influence ;  that  they  are  factors  in 
the  Divine  plan  to  soften  our  hard  natures,  to 
prevent  us  from  getting  too  worldly,  and  to 
keep  our  minds  upon  heavenly  things. 

Think  of  bringing  up  children  to  believe 
that  the  God  of  Love,  the  God  of  Kindness, 
the  Father-Mother  God,  would  from  cruelty 
or  indifference  afflict  any  human  being  with 
distress  or  disease,  or  handicap  an  innocent 
child  by  inflicting  pain  upon  him,  instead  of 
showing  him  that  these  things  are  merely  the 
results  of  bad  living  on  his  own  part,  or  of 
the  sanitary  sins  or  breaking  of  other  health 
laws  by  his  ancestors! 

Children  should  be  taught  that  the  Creator 
intended  that  everybody  should  be  strong  and 
robust,  should  be  healthy,  and  should  radiate 
joyousness  and  goodness.  They  should  be 
taught  that  there  are  a  thousand  evidences  in 
our  human  structure  that  physical  discord  of 
every  kind  is  absolutely  abnormal ;  that  it  is  the 
result  of  wrong  eating,  of  wrong  thinking,  of 
sin — always  of  breaking  some  laws  of  health 
or  of  life. 


How  Food  Affects  Character     133 

While  pain  and  bodily  weakness  may  have 
a  chastening,  spiritualizing  effect  on  some  na- 
tures, it  has  quite  the  opposite  on  others,  and 
there  can  be  no  question  that  frailness  of  body 
is  an  inevitable  handicap. 

Every  child  ought  to  be  early  taught  to 
know  the  foods  that  are  his  physical  friends 
and  those  which  are  inimical, — that  good 
wholesome  food,  properly  eaten,  suited  to  his 
age,  temperament,  and  activity,  with  plenty 
of  refreshing  sleep  and  of  invigorating  exer- 
cise in  the  open  air,  and  with  lots  of  play  and 
healthful  recreation,  and  a  right  mental  atti- 
tude, are  the  friends  which  are  helping  to  build 
his  body  and  will  develop  his  highest  effi- 
ciency, and  be  the  means  of  bringing  him  the 
greatest  happiness.  He  should  learn  that 
everything  which  cuts  down  his  vitality,  such 
as  dissipation,  irregular  living,  overeating,  un- 
dereating,  eating  the  wrong  things,  or  explo- 
sive passions  like  fear,  anxiety,  jealousy,  ha- 
tred, envy,  and  greed,  are  the  enemies  of  his 
well  being  and  will  reduce  his  achievement  and 
mar  his  happiness.  He  should  be  taught  that 
any  violation  of  the  laws  of  his  being,  in  what- 
ever direction,  whether  wrong  thinking,  wrong 


134  Keeping  Fit 


acting,  or  wrong  eating,  will  minimize  his  pos- 
sibilities of  success  in  the  years  to  come. 

Our  schools  teach  many  things  which  are  of 
little  practical  value,  as  they  are  never  really 
used,  yet  fail  to  teach  what  to  eat  and  how  to 
live  in  order  to  get  the  maximum  of  efficiency 
and  happiness  out  of  life. 

Everywhere  we  see  human  dwarfs,  children 
and  men  and  women,  whose  development  has 
been  arrested  and  whose  skeletons  and  muscles 
and  brains  are  deficient,  because  of  lack  of 
proper  food. 

How  often  we  see  ignorant  mothers,  who 
have  never  learned  the  most  ordinary  princi- 
ples of  foods,  feeding  their  babies  and  children 
with  all  sorts  of  dishes,  many  of  which  are 
totally  unfitted  to  make  blood  or  build  tissue! 
Only  recently  I  heard  of  a  mother  in  a  board- 
ing-house who  always  fed  her  baby  with  mixed 
pickles,  because,  she  said,  it  wouldn't  eat  any- 
thing else,  and  she  let  it  eat  them  until  it  was 
sick!  How  often  are  poor  babies  in  the  slums 
of  our  great  cities  fed  with  sausages,  pickles, 
bananas,  tea,  coffee,  or  even  beer,  while  they 
are  yet  in  arms! 

A  great  many  babies  and  children  who  are 


How  Food  Affects  Character     135 

almost  always  cross,  who  cry  a  great  deal  of 
the  time,  and  who  make  everybody  miserable 
day  and  night,  are  not  properly  fed.  This  is 
often  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble.  Many  dis- 
positions are  ruined  in  this  way. 

Mental  power  and  efficiency,  disposition  and 
success  or  failure,  live  chiefly  in  the  food  we 
eat,  which  builds  up  and  sustains  cell  life.  The 
building  cannot  contain  anything  which  was 
not  in  the  building  material.  The  body  and 
its  organs  can  only  contain  what  exists  in  the 
elements  taken  in  the  food  and  drink,  plus 
what  we  gain  from  breathing  the  atmosphere 
and  absorb  from  the  sunshine. 

Many  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  we  resemble 
the  animal  whose  flesh  we  eat  habitually  and 
in  large  quantity.  Writers  have  fancied  that 
they  could  trace  many  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  hog  in  people  who  were  excessive  pork- 
eaters. 

However  that  may  be,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  meat  is  a  great  excitant  of  the  nerves. 
In  some  countries  there  is  a  custom,  as  in  Abys- 
sinia, for  example,  of  eating  a  large  amount 
of  raw  flesh  and  drinking  blood  on  great  fes- 
tival days.     The  result  seems  to  be  genuine 


136  Keeping  Fit 


intoxication.  The  people  become  exhilarated, 
or  even  wildly  excited,  by  the  stimulating  en- 
ergy given  off  by  the  meat.  They  dance  for 
an  hour  or  two  afterward,  singing  and  shout- 
ing hysterically  all  the  time. 

One  of  the  chief  arguments  against  flesh 
eating  has  been  that  people  who  live  upon  a 
meat  diet  have  more  of  the  animal  in  them, 
are  more  passionate,  excitable  and  hot-tem- 
pered, than  those  who  do  not  eat  meat.  War- 
like tribes  have  always  been  great  meat  eaters. 
The  Spartans  lived  on  rare  meats  and  blood 
soups. 

Animals  also  show  more  fight  and  are  much 
more  vicious  and  fierce  when  fed  upon  meat. 
In  taming  wild,  carnivorous  animals  it  is  al- 
ways necessary  to  take  away  their  meat  diet, 
and  experiments  have  shown  that  often,  even 
when  they  have  grown  very  tame,  if  flesh  is 
given  them,  they  will  become  wild  and  fero- 
cious again.  Dogs  often  become  vicious  and 
savage  when  they  eat  too  much  meat.  Some 
animals  are  absolutely  unmanageable  when  fed 
upon  a  meat  diet.  Oftentimes  wild  animals 
in  the  Zoological  Gardens  become  so  vicious 
that  their  meat  diet  is  cut  down  or  omitted 


How  Food  Affects  Character     137 

altogether.  Then  they  become  noticeably  more 
docile. 

It  is  beyond  question  that  the  animal  pas- 
sions in  man  are  very  seriously  influenced  by 
food,  especially  by  meats,  pungent  sauces,  and 
rich,  stimulating  dishes  of  any  kind.  Fat 
meat,  particularly,  is  said  to  be  too  inflamma- 
tory for  the  young  and  tends  to  excite  the  sex- 
ual nature.  For  this  reason  a  rich,  and  espe- 
cially an  excessive  meat  diet,  is  very  injurious 
for  youth  who  are  approaching  puberty,  who 
should  then  eat  the  simplest  but  most  nour- 
ishing kind  of  food.  It  has  been  found  that  in 
addition  to  an  abnormal  sexual  nature  which 
many  children  have  inherited  from  bestial 
parents,  their  animal  passions  are  unduly 
stimulated  by  a  rich  diet  and  by  overeating. 
Simple  food  means  simple  life,  and  tends  to 
purity  of  thought.  Indeed,  our  stimulating 
American  climate,  our  strenuous  life,  our  push- 
ing, hustling,  and  driving,  and  our  rich  living 
all  tend  to  bring  youths  to  premature  puberty, 
when  the  whole  training,  diet,  and  mode  of  liv- 
ing should  tend  to  retard  rather  than  advance 
this  period. 

Our  children,  long  before  they  reach  their 


138  Keeping  Fit 


teens,  attend  theaters,  all  sorts  of  picture 
shows,  and  vaudeville  entertainments,  are  kept 
up  late  at  night,  and  in  many  similar  ways  are 
forced  to  premature  puberty,  with,  in  numer- 
ous cases,  fatal  results.  They  are  not  kept 
simple  enough.  Their  lives  are  too  compli- 
cated. There  is  too  much  that  stimulates  and 
continually  forces  them  on. 

One  of  the  principal  arguments  advanced  in 
favor  of  a  vegetarian  diet  is  that  it  does  not 
stimulate  the  baser  passions  in  man,  but  on 
the  contrary  tends  to  eradicate  them.  Among 
civilized  races  those  who  live  mainly  on  a  diet 
of  vegetables,  fruit,  and  cereals  are  of  a  peace- 
ful, gentle  nature.  They  are  more  quiet  and 
less  likely  to  engage  in  warlike  enterprise  than 
meat-eating  people.  They  do  not  live  such 
a  strenuous  life  as  the  meat  eaters.  The  Hin- 
doos, for  example,  remain  a  subject  people 
largely  because  of  their  philosophy  of  non- 
resistance,  and  many  Brahmins  retire  at  fifty 
years  of  age  to  devote  the  rest  of  their  lives 
to  study  and  meditation.  The  vegetarians 
have  been  the  thinkers  and  the  dreamers ;  they 
have  developed  some  of  the  most  spiritual  phil- 
osophies of  mankind. 


How  Food  Affects  Character     139 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  more  ani- 
mal and  coarser  the  food,  the  coarser  and  more 
animal  will  be  the  ambition  and  the  efforts 
induced  by  it. 

Whether  we  are  vegetarians  or  meat  eaters, 
of  this  we  may  be  certain:  that  the  quality  of 
our  food  very  materially  affects  our  disposi- 
tion, our  temperament,  and  our  outlook  upon 
life.  Whether  we  are  gross  or  spiritual, 
whether  we  are  optimists  or  pessimists,  whether 
we  have  ideas  and  ideals  or  a  crazy,  one-sided 
philosophy — whether  we  are  level-headed  and 
have  a  good,  sound  judgment  or  are  irrespon- 
sible— will  depend  very  largely  upon  the  way 
we  feed  ourselves.  If  a  man  is  not  firmly 
grounded  in  spiritual  principles,  bad  cooking 
will  in  a  little  while  transform  an  optimist  into 
a  pessimist. 

It  is  hard  for  a  man  to  be  a  gentleman,  to 
be  honest,  if  he  is  badly  fed.  There  is  a  moral 
quality  in  our  food  and  manner  of  partaking 
of  it.  A  man  is  not  easily  tempted  to  do  wrong 
when  he  feels  right.  Health  is  a  great  pre- 
server of  virtue.  It  is  very  closely  connected 
with  morals. 

Wrong  conditions  affect  mental  harmony. 


140  Keeping  Fit 


and  cause  mental  discord,  and  this  discord  is 
reflected  throughout  the  system.  Right,  truth, 
and  health  belong  together.  Health  and  sin 
are  natural  enemies,  and  health  is  more  closely 
related  to  the  stomach  than  to  any  other  organ 
in  the  body. 

Ah!  what  avail  the  largest  gifts  of  Heaven, 
When  drooping  health  and  spirits  go  amiss? 

How  tasteless  then  whatever  can  be  given! 
Health  is  the  vital  principle  of  bliss, 

And  exercise  of  health. 

— James  Thomson. 

We  are  always  beginning  to  live,  but  are  never  living. 

— Manlius  Manlius. 


VII 

CULINARY    CRIMES    AND    COMPLEX    LIVING 

Great  pity  were  it  if  this  beneficence  of  Providence  should 
be  marred  in  the  ordering,  so  as  to  justly  merit  the  reflection 
of  the  old  proverb  that,  though  God  sends  us  meat,  yet  the 
devil   does   cooks. — Cooks'   an^d   Confectioners'   Dictionary. 

Their  best  and  most  wholesome  feeding  is  upon  one  dish 
and  no  more,  and  the  same  plain  and  simple;  for  surely  this 
huddling  of  many  meats  one  upon  another  of  divers  tastes  is 
pestiferous:  but  sundry  sauces  are  more  dangerous  than  that. 

— C.  P.  S.  Pliny. 

On  his  weary  couch. 
Fat   Luxury,   sick  of   the   night's   debauch. 
Lay  groaning,   fretful  at  the  obtrusive  beam 
That  through  the  lattice  peeped  derisively. 

— Edward  Pollok. 

"For  my  part,"  says  Addison,  "when  I  be- 
hold a  fashionable  table  set  out  in  all  its  mag- 
nificence, I  fancy  that  I  see  gouts  and  dropsies, 
fevers  and  lethargies,  with  other  innumerable 
distempers,  lying  in  ambuscade  among  the 
dishes." 

"Make  your  whole  repast  out  of  one  dish," 
says  an  eminent  physician.     "If  you  indulge 

141 


142  Keeping  Fit 


in  a  second,  avoid  drinking  anything  strong  till 
you  have  finished  your  meal;  at  the  same  time 
abstain  from  all  sauces,  or  at  least  such  as  are 
not  the  most  plain  and  simple.  A  man  can- 
not well  be  guilty  of  gluttony  if  he  sticks  to 
these  few  obvious  and  easy  Tules.  In  the 
first  case,  there  would  be  no  variety  of  tastes 
to  solicit  his  palate  and  occasion  excess;  nor, 
in  the  second,  any  artificial  provocatives  to  re- 
lieve satiety  and  create  a  false  appetite." 

When  Dr.  Abernethy,  the  eminent  English 
physician,  visited  his  rich  patients,  he  used  to 
go  into  the  kitchen  and  shake  hands  with  the 
cook,  saying,  "My  good  friend,  I  owe  you 
much,  for  you  confer  great  favors  upon  me. 
Your  skill,  your  genius,  and  your  delightful 
art  enable  us  medical  men  to  ride  in  fine 
coaches.  Without  your  existence  we  would 
go  on  foot  and  starve." 

Our  cooks  are,  indeed,  adepts  in  life-short- 
ening. Human  beings  have  ever  been  great 
sufferers  from  the  ignorance  of  cooks  and  from 
their  own  lack  of  knowledge  of  dietetic  values 
and  the  chemistry  of  foods.  Injudicious  selec- 
tion of  foods  and  bad  cooking  lay  the  founda- 
tion for  many  human  ills. 


Culinary  Crimes  143 


Nothing  else  touches  life  so  closely  as  the 
kind  of  nutriment  which  makes  one's  blood, 
builds  up  his  physique,  and  constantly  renews 
and  maintains  all  the  tissues  in  his  body. 

Our  food  is  the  basis  of  our  minds,  our  think- 
ing, our  efficiency.  Our  achievements  in  life, 
our  happiness,  depend  upon  what  we  eat,  the 
manner  of  its  preparation,  and  the  way  in 
which  we  partake  of  it.  Yet  in  the  majority 
of  families  the  choice  of  foods  is  largely  left 
to  ignorant  cooks,  who  give  us  the  things  they 
happen  to  like  themselves,  or  which  they  have 
been  accustomed  to  prepare,  and  which  may 
not  be  at  all  adapted  to  our  constitution,  our 
temperament,  our  mode  of  living,  our  habits, 
or  our  vocation.  Our  diet,  accordingly,  is  not 
only  badly  prepared,  but  the  articles  which 
compose  it  do  not  have  the  proper  values,  and 
have  very  little  bearing  upon  our  real  needs. 

There  are  multitudes  of  people  who  are  not 
actually  ill,  but  who  do  not  feel  right  habit- 
ually, and  yet  they  do  not  know  why.  Their 
brains  are  heavy,  they  cannot  think  clearly, 
their  minds  are  cloudy,  their  thoughts  are  dull ; 
they  do  not  have  that  masterful  feeling,  that 
thrill  of  health,  which  we  all  feel  is  normal 


144  Keeping  Fit 


to  us.  They  consult  physicians,  who  assure 
them  that  they  have  no  organic  disease,  but 
who  do  not  seem  able  to  give  them  any  material 
help  in  getting  rid  of  their  troubles. 

The  truth  is,  many  of  them  are  suffering 
from  the  incompatibility  of  different  kinds  of 
food,  which  may  be  all  right  when  taken  sepa- 
rately, but  which  develop  chemical  antagonism 
when  taken  into  the  body  together.  In  some 
cases  the  trouble  may  be  that  the  food  is  not 
properly  prepared ;  or  they  may  habitually  eat 
too  much,  so  that  all  the  cells  of  the  bodv  are 
clogged  with  an  excess  of  nutriment,  which  the 
digestive  organs  cannot  take  care  of  and  which 
the  tissues  do  not  need.  When  the  blood  is 
thus  overloaded  with  nutrition,  all  the  organs 
rebel  at  the  excess,  the  brain  is  heavy,  the 
thought  labored,  and  the  whole  system  is  not 
only  overtaxed  with  the  extra  load,  but  is  also 
poisoned  with  the  undigested,  unassimilated 
food,  which  partially  decomposes  in  the  ali- 
mentary canal. 

Vice-President  Marshall  is  right  in  saying 
that  cooks  are  more  important  to  civilization 
than  governors.  They  are  far  more  essential, 
and  I  believe  the  time  will  come  when  that 


Culinary  Crimes  145 

which  affects  the  health  and  the  destiny  of  hu- 
man beings,  more  than  anything  else,  will  be 
under  the  strictest  supervision.  Our  foods 
will  then  be  selected  and  prepared  at  scientific 
cooperative  stations,  and  every  cook  will  have 
to  have  a  license  or  certificate,  just  as  a  doctor 
must  have  a  license  in  order  to  practice  medi- 
cine. We  shall  then  have  municipal  kitchens 
where  the  best  foods  will  be  selected  and  pre- 
pared in  the  most  scientific  manner  by  trained, 
experienced  cooks,  who  will  be  experts  in  the 
chemical  values  of  their  products.  These  cooks 
will  know  the  affinity  between  different  foods, 
and  what  kinds  should  never  be  eaten  together,* 
because  of  their  natural  antagonism,  because 
of  their  combustion-generated  poisons  which 
cause  serious  trouble  in  the  system. 

"A  chair  of  nutrition  in  a  medical  school,  in 
my  opinion,  is  almost  as  important  as  a  chair 
of  the  practice  of  medicine,"  says  the  pure 
food  expert.  Dr.  Harvey  W.  Wiley.  In 
teaching  the  science  of  nutrition,  not  only 
would  attention  be  called  to  the  general  com- 
position of  foods,  but  also  to  the  balancing  or 
proper  adjustment  of  rations,  the  relative  di- 
gestibility of  different  classes  of  foods,  and  the 


146  Keeping  Fit 


principles  of  assimilation,  use,  aid,  and  destruc- 
tion of  nutrients. 

How  many  of  our  cooks  and  housekeepers 
to-day  know  anything  of  the  science  of  nutri- 
tion? How  many  of  them  know  anything  of 
the  chemistry,  the  anatomy,  the  physiology  of 
foods?  How  many,  for  example,  know  that 
wise  Nature  often  puts  the  cells  which  contain 
the  most  delicious  flavors  and  the  most  valu- 
able nutritive  salts,  the  starch  cells,  the  cells 
which  form  the  very  life  of  the  tissues  of  the 
body,  right  under  the  skin  of  many  of  our 
fruits,  like  the  apple,  pear,  plum,  etc.?  How 
many  of  them  realize  that  the  iron  and  arsenic 
which  are  so  necessary  to  blood  building  and 
which  are  tonic  to  the  body,  are  largely  thrown 
away  in  the  parings  of  apples  and  other  fruits, 
and  of  some  vegetables  like  potatoes? 

And,  as  if  this  were  not  a  sufficient  insult 
to  Nature's  wisdom,  the  peeled  potatoes  and 
other  vegetables  are  frequently  put  to  soak, 
often  for  hours,  in  tepid  water,  before  cook- 
ing, so  as  to  draw  out  as  much  of  the  flavors 
and  nutritive  salts  as  possible.  Matters  are 
then  carried  a  step  farther  by  putting  the 
vegetables  into  cold  water  and  bringing  them 


Culinary  Crimes  147 

slowly  to  the  boiling-point,  when  further  great 
loss  occurs;  so  that,  when  they  are  ready  for 
the  table,  about  all  their  flavor  and  the  larger 
part  of  their  nutriment  is  gone.  It  is  astonish- 
ing how  many  cooks  and  housekeepers  are  ig- 
norant of  the  simple  fact  that  putting  vegeta- 
bles into  boiling  water  instead  of  cold  closes 
the  pores  and  prevents  the  escape  of  much  of 
the  nutritive  value  and  flavors. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  meats,  which 
should  be  put  into  a  hot  oven  at  once  in  order 
to  sear  the  outside  and  coagulate  the  albumen, 
and  thus  prevent  the  escape  of  the  juices  and 
flavors.  Yet  how  many  cooks  put  the  roast 
of  beef  or  mutton  or  other  meat  into  a  half- 
warm  oven  and  allow  most  of  its  precious  nu- 
triment to  flow  out  while  it  is  slowly  heating 
through!  A  similar  mistake  is  made  in  the 
boiling  process.  Think  of  eating  meat  that 
has  been  first  soaked  in  cold  water,  slowly 
brought  to  the  boiling-point,  then  boiled  for 
hours,  and  the  liquid,  which  really  contains  the 
best  part  of  the  meat,  thrown  away!  Fresh 
meat  should  be  put  on  a  slow  fire  in  a  close- 
covered  receptacle  without  water,  and  cooked 
in  its  own  juices.     Then  all  the  flavors  and 


148  Keeping  Fit 


much  of  the  nutritious  value,  which  would  be 
boiled  out  if  cooked  in  water,  are  preserved. 

The  French  people  are  much  better  in- 
formed in  regard  to  culinary  matters  and  the 
chemistry  of  food  than  we  are.  Even  the 
poorest  peasant  woman  among  them  seems  to 
have  an  instinctive  knowledge  of  food  quali- 
ties. They  know  how  to  cook  meats  in  the 
most  nutritious,  palatable,  and  economic  ways. 
Whether  roasted  or  boiled  or  steamed  or 
stewed,  none  of  their  most  important  constitu- 
ents or  flavors  is  lost  in  the  process.  Nor  does 
one  ever  see  a  French  housewife  peel  potatoes 
and  then  soak  them  in  tepid  water  for  an  hour 
or  two,  so  that  the  nourishing  parts  which  were 
not  peeled  off  will  be  soaked  out.  She  knows 
very  well  that  the  most  nutritious  substances 
and  the  finest  flavors  of  the  potato  come  from 
the  corky  layer  right  under  the  skin,  and  that 
when  this  is  removed  much  of  the  value  of  the 
vegetable  is  lost.  She  knows  that  potatoes 
should  always  be  cooked  in  their  skins,  and 
that  if  they  must  be  pared  they  should  imme- 
diately be  dropped  into  boiling  water,  which 
closes  the  pores  and  thus  serves  to  retain  what- 
ever nutritive  value  is  left.    The  Irish  peasan- 


Culinary  Crimes  149 

try,  who  before  famine  decimated  their 
country  lived  largely  upon  a  diet  of  potatoes, 
know  more  about  them  than  any  other  people 
in  the  world,  and  they  never  take  off  the  skin 
before  cooking,  for  they  know  there  is  a  tre- 
mendous loss  in  doing  so. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  many  children  grow  up 
sickly,  or  even  chronically  diseased,  or  that 
they  are  stunted  physically,  mentally,  and  mor- 
ally, when  so  few  wives,  mothers,  or  cooks  know 
anything  whatever  of  the  chemistry  of  foods, 
the  chemistry  of  cooking,  or  the  compatibility 
or  incompatibility  of  different  foods? 

We  are  largely  what  our  food  makes  us. 
Poor  food,  unscientifically  cooked,  unscientifi- 
cally taken,  cuts  down  our  mental  and  phys- 
ical efficiency,  and  makes  us  inferior  beings, 
when  perfect  nutrition  might  have  made  us 
very  superior.  Many  of  us  go  through  life 
less  than  half  the  men  and  women  we  might 
be;  weaklings — ^inferior  beings,  when  we  have 
the  natural  endowment  to  have  been  something 
infinitely  higher  and  grander,  just  because  of 
the  ignorance  of  our  cooks  and  our  own  ignor- 
ance of  the  laws  of  nutrition. 

Not  only  do  our  foods  lose  a  great  many 


150  Keeping  Fit 


of  their  choicest  substances  in  the  cooking,  but 
also  much  of  their  palatability.  This,  mind,  is 
one  of  the  greatest  culinary  crimes  committed 
by  ignorant  cooks,  the  destruction  of  the  appe- 
tizing quality  of  food,  which  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  because  of  its  vital  effect  on  the  se- 
cretion of  the  digestive  fluids.  When  food 
tastes  good  to  us,  Nature  generates  an  abun- 
dance of  saliva  and  other  digestive  juices;  but 
when  we  take  it  from  a  sense  of  duty,  because 
we  think  we  need  about  so  much  nourishment, 
but  without  any  relish  in  eating.  Nature  pro- 
tests by  refusing  to  generate  the  necessary  di- 
gestive fluids.  She  does  not  respond  to  the 
food  which  we  eat  indifferently  or  which  dis- 
gusts us.  She  intended  that  eating  should  be 
almost  a  religious  process,  and  that  it  should 
be  thoroughly  enjoyed;  and,  when  this  is  so, 
she  blesses  the  food  with  her  abundant  supply 
of  saliva  and  other  gastric  juices  necessary  for 
its  digestion  and  assimilation.  If  we  do  not 
relish  food,  we  do  not  get  sufficient  gastric 
juices  to  digest  it  properly,  the  whole  digestive 
process  is  retarded,  and  Nature's  protest  is 
shown  in  the  defective  absorption  and  assimi- 
lation of  the  food. 


Culinary  Crimes  151 


Another  thing  of  great  importance  in  the 
care  and  preparation  of  food  is  to  guard  against 
its  absorbing  foreign  flavors  or  destructive 
germs  by  exposure.  Yet  there  are  not  a  few 
cooks  who  know  nothing  whatever  about  the 
absorbent  powers  of  different  foods,  such  as 
milk  and  butter,  which  quickly  take  on  the 
flavors  in  their  vicinity  when  exposed.  At  din- 
ners where  tobacco-smoke  is  very  thick,  it  has 
been  noticed  that  the  butter  on  the  table  very 
soon  takes  on  a  tobacco  flavor.  The  same  thing 
is  true  of  milk  and  cream.  Fish,  in  a  very 
short  time,  when  lying  open  in  a  hot  kitchen, 
will  not  only  absorb  all  the  flavors  of  the  cook- 
ing in  its  vicinity,  but  also  all  sorts  of  odors — 
of  the  garbage,  coal  gas,  steam,  etc. — so  that 
its  own  delicate  flavors  and  nutritive  value  are 
quickly  lost.  There  is  no  other  flesh  food 
which  deteriorates  and  disintegrates  so  rap- 
idly as  fish.  It  should  be  brought  directly  from 
cold  storage  to  the  hot  coals,  or  to  the  steamer 
or  boiling  water.  If  this  is  not  possible  it 
should  be  kept  separate  from  everything  else, 
especially  from  vegetables,  butter,  cream,  and 
milk,  in  a  tight  compartment  in  the  refriger- 
ator until  used.    Fish  should  never  be  frozen. 


152  Keeping  Fit 


This  kills  all  the  flavors  and  makes  it  dry  and 
insipid.  To  get  it  at  its  best  it  should  be 
cooked,  if  possible,  almost  as  soon  as  caught, 
because  it  begins  to  deteriorate  the  moment 
life  is  extinguished. 

On  the  other  hand,  meats  which  are  kept  for 
some  time  are  supposed  to  develop  agreeable 
flavors.  Many  hotel  and  restaurant  keepers 
appreciate  this,  and  sometimes  allow  game  and 
other  fresh  meats  to  hang  in  cold  storage  until 
they  actually  begin  to  decompose.  It  is  true 
that  by  this  means  they  develop  new  flavors  and 
are  also  made  more  tender,  but  it  is  positively 
dangerous  to  take  into  the  system  food  which 
has  thus  begun  to  decompose.  It  is  especially 
so  where  any  of  the  digestive  organs  are  weak 
or  disordered.  Yet  actual  decay  is  so  far  ad- 
vanced in  some  of  the  meats  that  are  eaten  that 
they  would  be  nauseating  if  it  were  not  for 
the  flavors  which  are  developed  in  cooking 
them. 

Oh,  what  a  price  we  pay  for  appearances 
and  fashions  even  in  our  foods !  Isn't  it  amaz- 
ing, for  example,  that  people  will  pare  pota- 
toes before  cooking  them,  even  when  they  know 
that  by  doing  so  they  are  sacrificing  the  best 


Culinary  Crimes  153 

part  of  their  nutriment,  just  because  they  will 
look  so  much  nicer  when  served?  Isn't  it  in- 
credible that  we  allow  commercial  greed  to  ex- 
ploit our  food-stuffs  for  profit  by  robbing  the 
wheat,  the  rice,  and  other  grains  of  their  chief 
life  and  force-imparting  ingredients  in  order 
to  make  them  a  little  whiter,  a  little  more  at- 
tractive to  the  eye? 

If  we  realized  what  a  difference  it  makes  in 
the  quality  of  our  brains  and  the  quality  of 
our  work  whether  from  infancy  we  have  been 
superbly  nourished  or  have  been  starved  by  the 
commercialization  of  our  foods,  we  would  not 
encourage  this  vandalism  as  we  do.  Since  our 
whole  lives  are  influenced  by  what  we  eat  and 
how  we  eat  it,  it  makes  an  immense  difference 
whether  our  foods  are  perfectly  pure  and 
sound  and  perfectly  grown,  or  the  grains  have 
been  blighted  or  artificially  robbed  of  their 
values,  the  cattle  diseased  or  viciously  fed,  and, 
finally,  whether  the  resulting  food  products 
are  well  or  ill  cooked. 

It  is  positively  wicked  to  remove  the  life- 
giving  principles  which  the  Creator  considered 
essential  in  our  food-stuffs  for  the  sake  of 
making  them  a  little  more  attractive  to  the  eye. 


154  Keeping  Fit 


It  is  a  crime  to  sacrifice  health,  happiness,  vi- 
tality, brain  force,  efficiency,  and  power,  thus 
seriously  marring  our  destiny,  for  the  sake  of 
the  appearance  of  food  or  the  development  of 
artificial  flavors. 

The  time  will  come  when  the  State  will  see 
to  it  that  her  children,  her  greatest  asset,  will 
have  scientific  instruction  regarding  the  laws 
of  health,  especially  the  laws  of  nutrition,  and 
the  immense  importance  of  food  in  the  human 
economy  and  in  the  progress  of  the  race. 

It  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  a  student  can 
be  graduated  from  school  or  college  to-day  ut- 
terly ignorant  of  these  laws;  ignorant  of  the 
specific  offices  the  various  foods  perform  in  the 
tissues  of  his  body,  ignorant  of  the  chemistry 
of  foods  and  their  ministry  to  life,  practically 
ignorant  of  the  scientific  meaning  of  what  he 
eats  at  least  three  times  every  day  of  his  life. 
He  learns  many  things  in  college  which  he 
never  directly  uses,  but  of  his  food,  that  which 
nourishes  and  sustains  life  itself,  he  is  prac- 
tically ignorant. 

Many  of  our  college  graduates  wonder  why 
their  bodies  get  out  of  order  when  they  eat 
enough  grease  and  meat  at  a  single  meal  to 


Culinary  Crimes  155 

supply  a  dozen  healthy  individuals,  and  yet 
many  of  their  tissues  may  be  actually  suffering 
for  lack  of  nutrition.  They  gorge  their  bodily 
organs  with  all  sorts  of  excesses,  and  then  re- 
sort to  artificial  means,  such  as  unnatural 
drugs,  to  straighten  themselves  out. 

When  we  consider  how  utterly  all  of  our 
mental  and  physical  faculties  depend  upon  our 
food,  is  it  not  strange  that  we  should  treat  so 
lightly  our  feeding  processes,  our  food,  its 
preparation,  and  our  manner  of  partaking  of 
it?  Our  meals  and  mealtime  are  really  the 
most  important  events  in  our  lives,  and  yet  not 
one  cook  in  a  thousand  is  fit  to  prepare  a 
meal  even  for  day  laborers,  and  not  one  in  a 
thousand  averagely  intelligent  men  or  women 
knows  anything  accurately  of  the  nutritive 
qualities  of  his  food.  Owing  to  our  ignorance 
of  food  values  we  abuse  our  stomachs,  insult 
our  digestive  apparatus,  and,  in  innumerable 
ways,  injure  ourselves. 

Some  people  bemoan  the  curse  of  poor  di- 
gestion when  the  whole  difficulty  is  caused  by 
incompatible  foods,  or  a  too  complicated  diet — 
by  eating  many  things  at  one  time,  especially 
rich  dishes.    Many  a  man  is  a  partial  or  prac- 


156  Keeping  Fit 


tical  failure  to-day,  unhappy  or  even  miser- 
able, when  his  whole  life  would  be  revolution- 
ized by  a  simple  fare,  by  eating  a  few  simple, 
nourishing  articles  of  food,  articles  which  are 
naturally  friends,  not  inimical.  The  simple 
life  would  revolutionize  our  American  people 
physically.  With  all  our  other  crowding,  we 
crowd  our  digestive  organs  often  worst  of  all. 
We  make  them  do  work  which  they  were  never 
intended  to  do.  Is  there  any  sense  in  taking 
a  dozen  or  more  different  kinds  of  food  into 
the  stomach  at  a  time — foods  which  chemically 
antagonize  one  another,  which  are  natural  ene- 
mies in  the  digestive  processes? 

Eating  ought  to  be  both  a  science  and  an  art, 
but  instead  the  process  is  usually  carried  on  in 
the  most  haphazard,  thoughtless,  unscientific 
manner.  It  is  a  wonder  the  stomach  does  not 
rebel  altogether  when  it  sees  course  after  course 
of  indigestible,  incompatible  things  come  down, 
most  of  which  antagonize  one  another.  Then, 
to  cap  the  abusive  climax,  after  people  have 
gorged  as  much  as  they  can,  they  often  pour 
down  a  lot  of  ice  water,  which  actually  retards 
the  digestive  processes  for  at  least  half  an  hour, 
for  those  processes  cannot  proceed  until  the 


Culinary  Crimes  157 

temperature  of  the  contents  of  the  stomach 
rises  practically  to  that  of  the  blood.  Often- 
times, with  the  ice  water  comes  down  a  lot  of 
champagne;  and,  to  add  still  more  to  the  em- 
barrassment, other  spirituous  liquors,  ice 
cream,  tea,  or  coffee  will  be  taken  on  top  of 
this  mass  of  entirely  heterogeneous  food  ele- 
ments, three-quarters  of  which  are  perhaps  not 
only  not  needed,  but  are  even  a  positive  hin- 
drance to  the  system. 

In  fact,  the  human  body  is  undergoing  an 
evolution  in  order  to  adjust  itself  to  the  in- 
creased complexity  of  living.  The  primitive 
man  could  not  have  eaten  with  impunity  such 
food  as  some  of  our  modern  men  do.  His  di- 
gestive organs  were  accustomed  to  taking  care 
of  only  the  simplest  kind  of  food,  and  of  very 
little  variety;  they  could  not  possibly  have 
managed  the  food  that  is  eaten  to-day  at  a  sin- 
gle one  of  our  great  dinners  of  a  dozen  courses. 
The  chances  are  that  the  primitive  man  who 
undertook  such  a  feast  would  have  died  a  few 
hours  after  in  mortal  agony. 

The  poor  often  look  with  envious  eyes  upon 
the  rich.  They  think  it  unfair  that  a  few 
people  who  do  not  work  at  all  should  have  all 


158  Keeping  Fit 


the  luxuries,  everything  that  money  can  buy, 
while  they  are  compelled  to  live  upon  such 
plain  fare.  But  the  fact  is  that  the  luxuries 
of  the  rich  are  often  their  undoing.  In  try- 
ing to  get  so  much  pleasure  out  of  what  they 
have  they  often  eat  and  drink  to  excess,  and 
keep  their  bodies  choked,  clogged,  and  con- 
gested; overload  their  blood  with  nutriment 
of  which  it  cannot  take  care,  and  which  plays 
great  havoc  with  the  delicate  digestive  and 
secretory  organs.  People  who  are  forced  to 
plain  living  are  infinitely  better  off  than  those 
who  stuff  themselves  with  incompatibles. 
Overeating  is  one  of  the  greatest  curses  of 
the  race. 

Not  long  ago  the  millionaire  president  of  a 
large  magazine  concern  in  New  York  City 
died  in  his  prime,  not  yet  forty-seven  years  of 
age.  Ten  years  before  he  was  earning  fifteen 
dollars  per  week  and  was  in  the  best  of  health. 
After  he  became  prosperous  he  had  taken  less 
and  less  exercise,  and  had  fallen  into  the  habit 
of  having  an  automobile  waiting  for  him  wher- 
ever he  made  even  a  short  stop.  He  had  built 
a  great  palace  of  a  house  in  one  of  the  most 
fashionable  sections  of  Long  Island,  and  in 


Culinary  Crimes  159 

the  immense  Georgian  dining-room  he  gave 
most  elaborate  dinners.  The  cause  of  his  death 
was  acute  indigestion,  brought  on  by  overeat- 
ing and  too  little  exercise.  So,  in  ten  years 
only,  the  strong  young  man  who  had  risen  so 
rapidly  burned  out  with  the  excesses  of  pros- 
perity the  fuse  of  his  life. 

If  the  poor,  abused,  modern  stomach  could 
but  soliloquize  at  one  of  our  great  banquets, 
it  would  be  something  after  this  fashion : 

"What,  four  more  courses,  when  I  am  al- 
ready overburdened  and  struggling  to  take 
care  of  half  a  dozen !  I  have  now  more  than  my 
delicate  membranes  can  stand,  and  to-morrow 
I  shall  be  completely  undone. 

"Why  is  it  that  my  master  cannot  under- 
stand that  my  mechanism  is  extremely  simple, 
and  that  I  cannot  digest  so  many  kinds  of 
food  at  one  meal  without  serious  injury,  be- 
cause foods  which  may  agree  with  me  when 
taken  singly,  when  taken  together  form  an- 
tagonistic compounds? 

"At  these  dinners,  when  I  am  already  so 
overloaded  that  I  do  not  know  what  to  do 
with  the  material  I  have  received,  a  fresh  in- 
voice of  pepper  along  with  all  sorts  of  other 


160  Keeping  Fit 


hot  condiments  is  rushed  down,  and  my  mem- 
branes, which  are  almost  as  dehcate  as  those 
of  the  eye,  become  so  gorged  with  blood  from 
the  irritation  that  I  can  scarcely  stand  the 
strain.  Then,  as  a  climax  to  all  my  troubles, 
when  I  have  a  score  of  different  kinds  of  food 
— some  of  them  soaked  in  rich  greases  and  gra- 
vies and  sauces,  and  all  sorts  of  French  fixings 
— down  comes  a  glass  of  cold  water ! 

"Is  it  not  strange  that  my  master  does  not 
know  that  the  digestive  processes  cannot  go  on 
unless  the  temperature  of  my  contents  and  the 
temperature  of  the  blood  correspond — 98% 
degrees — and  that  it  often  takes  half  an  hour 
to  heat  this  ice  water  up  to  that  temperature? 
And,  often,  when  this  has  at  length  been  ac- 
complished, down  comes  a  lot  of  ice-cream  or 
another  glass  of  water,  or,  worse  still,  a  lot  of 
alcoholic  drinks,  which  thicken  my  velvety  lin- 
ing and  the  deeper  tissues,  also  the  thin  sheets 
of  nerves  all  through  the  body  and  the  gray 
matter  of  the  brain.  Then  I  simply  have  to 
give  up.  And  yet,  my  master  complains  be- 
cause I  express  my  distress  and  my  protest 
against  such  abuse  in  acute  indigestion!" 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  poor,  abused  or- 


Culinary  Crimes  161 

gan  has  to  give  up  at  last?  Just  think  what  a 
conglomerate,  heterogeneous  mass  of  materials 
— soups,  fish,  meats,  sauces,  vegetables,  salads, 
confectionery,  nuts,  raisins,  wines,  fruits,  etc., 
it  is  called  upon  to  take  care  of  without  a 
murmur ! 

What  wonder  that  our  bodies  get  out  of 
order,  when  we  eat  enough  grease  and  meat  at 
a  single  meal  to  supply  a  dozen  healthy  indi- 
viduals! We  gorge  the  different  internal  or- 
gans with  all  sorts  of  excesses,  and  then  we 
resort  to  artificial  means,  to  unnatural,  inhos- 
pitable drugs,  which  were  never  adapted  to  or 
intended  to  be  taken  into  the  human  system, 
to  straighten  ourselves  out. 

People  who  constantly  overwork  their  stom- 
achs by  overloading  them  with  incompatible 
foods  little  realize  that  they  are  laying  the 
foundation  of  many  diseases. 

After  big  dinners  of  rich  and  complicated 
foods — for  example,  after  Thanksgiving  and 
Christmas  dinners,  and  after  elaborate  ban- 
quets— certain  diseases  are  much  more  likely 
to  develop,  both  because  the  overworked  bodily 
organs  have  been  enfeebled  in  their  efforts  to 
take  care  of  the  variety  and  excess  of  food, 


162  Keeping  Fit 


and  also  because  the  greater  accumulation  of 
poisons  from  the  half-digested  material  which 
the  body  could  not  assimilate  has  greatly  weak- 
ened its  natural  resisting  power. 

It  is  very  noticeable  that  after  overeating 
we  take  cold  much  more  readily,  because  of  the 
accumulated  poisons  in  the  system  and  our  less- 
ened resisting  power.  Obesity,  diabetes,  gout 
and  hardening  of  the  arteries  are  some  of  the 
diseases  which  are  often  caused  in  this  way. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  also  one  cause 
of  the  great  increase  of  premature  deaths  from 
heart  disease,  especially  among  the  well-to-do. 
Many  of  them  keep  themselves  so  gorged  with 
food,  the  blood  so  overloaded  with  nutriment 
which  the  tissues  cannot  use,  that  a  great  deal 
of  extra  and  unnecessary  work  is  put  upon  the 
heart  which,  even  under  normal  conditions,  is 
by  far  the  hardest-worked  organ  in  the  body. 

People  who  habitually  gorge  themselves,  es- 
pecially with  meat  and  very  rich  foods,  usually 
have  sallow,  muddy  complexions;  their  skin  is 
not  clear,  and  they  often  look  many  years  older 
than  they  are.  This  is  caused  by  the  poisons 
resulting  from  the  partial  decomposition  of 
the  foods  and  the  absorption  into  the  tissues 


Culinary  Crimes  163 

of  poisonous  products  of  which  the  elimina- 
tive  processes  are  not  able  to  take  care.  The 
blood  and  other  secretions  are  often  so  over- 
loaded with  these  poisons  that  robust  health 
is  impossible.  They  manifest  themselves  in  all 
sorts  of  ways — in  bilious  symptoms,  in  sick 
and  nervous  headaches,  mental  dullness,  indif- 
ference, lack  of  ability  to  concentrate  the  mind, 
discouragement,  depression,  and  melancholy. 
Sclerosis  of  the  liver,  from  which  so  many 
people  die,  and  many  other  maladies,  are  also 
induced  largely  by  a  complicated  and  too  rich 
diet. 

Many  thus  cut  their  lives  short,  often  by 
many  years.  They  seem  to  think  that  a  large 
part  of  the  happiness  of  life  comes  from  the 
palate,  and  that  the  main  object  of  their  exist- 
ence is  to  gratify  it. 

The  result  is  that  they  not  only  shorten  their 
lives,  but  also,  while  living,  are  not  so  efficient, 
so  healthy,  or  so  happy  as  they  would  be  upon 
a  simpler  diet,  suited  to  their  age,  occupation, 
and  general  mode  of  life,  whether  young  or 
old,  sedentary,  strenuous,  or  indolent. 

If  all  were  scientifically  fed  with  foods  sci- 
entifically bred  and  developed  and  prepared 


164  Keeping  Fit 


and  cooked  by  experts  in  the  chemistry  of 
foods  and  in  the  culinary  art,  not  only  would 
the  life  of  the  race  be  lengthened,  but  most  of 
the  physical  ills  of  mankind  would  be  done 
away  with. 

Luxury  and  dissipation,  soft  and  gentle  as  their  ap- 
proaches are,  and  silently  as  they  throw  their  silken  chains 
about  the  heart,  enslave  it  more  than  the  most  active  and 
turbulent  vices. — Hannah  More. 

Patients,  patients,  and  the  physician's  pill  box  becomes  an 
automobile. — London  "Punch." 


VIII 

APPETITE  AND   JOY   IN  EATING 

The  consummate  pleasure  [in  eating]  is  not  in  the  costly 
flavor,  but  in  yourself. — Horace. 

Better  a  dinner  of  herbs  where  love  is  than  a  stalled  ox 
and  hatred  therewith. — Solomon. 

A  cheerful  look  makes  a  dish  a  feast.— George  Herbert. 
Unquiet   meals   make    ill    digestions. — Shakespeare. 

"What  are  these  benches  for?"  asked  John 
B.  Gough,  who  had  gone  to  see  a  church  in 
Bedfordshire,  England,  in  which  Scott,  the 
commentator,  once  preached.  The  seats,  worn 
smooth  all  except  the  knots,  reminded  him  of 
those  in  an  old-fashioned  New  England  school- 
house. 

"Please,  sir,  they  are  for  the  Sunday-school 
children,  sir." 

"And  what  do  the  school  children  do  on 
these  benches?" 

165 


166  Keeping  Fit 


"Please,  sir,  they  get  the  colic,  sir." 

"The  colic!  Good  gracious!  what  do  they 
get  the  colic  for?" 

"Please,  sir,  they  are  obliged  to,  every  Sun- 
day morning,  sir." 

"The  thing  puzzled  me  greatly,"  said  Mr. 
Gough,  "particularly  the  apparently  reveren- 
tial attitude  of  our  guide,  until  one  of  our 
party  explained,  'She  means  that  the  children 
are  required  to  learn  the  collect  for  the  day, 
every  Sunday  morning.'  " 

How  many  sit  at  meals  under  compulsion 
to  get  "the  colic,"  dyspepsia,  or  something  of 
the  kind,  because  of  their  total  disregard  of 
dietetic  laws,  their  bickerings  and  faultfind- 
ings, instead  of  learning  and  exemplifying  the 
collect  of  careful  selection  of  food,  thankful- 
ness to  the  Giver,  and  cheerfulness  in  their 
table  associations! 

"Every  mouthful  of  food  means  degenera- 
tion or  regeneration,"  is  but  an  epigrammatic 
way  of  stating  a  plain  truth. 

I  know  of  nothing  else  which  means  quite  so 
much  to  human  welfare  as  the  art  of  right  eat- 
ing, eating  the  right  things  in  the  right  way, 
in  the  right  amount,  at  the  right  time.     Upon 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating       167 


the  hygiene  of  eating  depends  our  wellbeing, 
our  happiness,  our  longevity. 

It  does  not  follow,  because  you  eat  enough 
food  and  of  the  right  kind,  that  you  are  prop- 
erly nourished.  It  often  happens  that,  owing 
to  the  impairment  of  the  efficiency  of  the  di- 
gestive fluids,  or  through  mental  poisoning 
from  fear,  worry,  or  any  other  disturbance  of 
the  mind,  many  of  the  tissues,  even  when  there 
is  plenty  of  food  in  the  digestive  organs,  suf- 
fer seriously  from  starvation. 

The  most  appetizing  nutriment,  although 
eaten  when  we  are  in  the  best  of  health,  will 
not  be  properly  digested  or  assimilated,  and 
consequently  will  not  properly  nourish  us,  if 
eaten  under  distressing  conditions,  when  the 
mind  is  filled  with  fear,  great  anxiety  or  fore- 
bodings of  calamity  or  misfortune. 

The  condition  of  the  mind  very  seriously 
modifies  the  effect  of  food.  It  governs,  to  a 
large  extent,  the  amount  of  nutrition  we  draw 
from  it.  Our  moods,  our  emotions,  our  men- 
tal attitude,  our  joys,  our  sorrows  enter  our 
food  and  take  serious  part  in  the  digestive 
processes. 

The  digestive  organs — the  liver  and  stomach. 


168  Keeping  Fit 


for  instance, — are  so  dependent  upon  harmony 
that  when  there  is  the  slightest  mental  disturb- 
ance they  cannot  act  normally,  and  digestion 
is  interfered  with. 

A  great  Russian  specialist,  Dr.  Pawlaw,  has 
been  making  some  dietetic  experiments  with 
dogs  and  cats.  He  has  found  that,  when  these 
animals  are  irritated  while  eating,  scolded,  or 
teased,  the  flow  of  gastric  juice  is  either  very 
materially  lessened,  or  ceases  altogether,  and 
that,  when  it  is  not  entirely  cut  off  what  re- 
mains is  of  very  inferior  quality.  It  is  well 
known  that  victims  suffering  from  great  habit- 
ual anxiety,  fear,  jealousy,  melancholy,  or  any 
other  mental  discord  are  badly  nourished  not 
only  because  the  flow  of  gastric  juice  is  ma- 
terially lessened,  but  also  because  of  their 
greatly  demoralized  condition.  In  such  cases 
it  is  more  dilute,  watery,  weak,  and  lacking  in 
pepsin  and  acids  which  are  so  necessary  for 
cutting  and  dissolving  the  harder  foods. 

Life-prolonging  specialists  assert  that  the 
mental  attitude  when  partaking  of  food  has 
everything  to  do  with  its  effects  upon  the  body ; 
that,  if  the  mind  is  troubled,  worried,  suffer- 
ing from  fear  or  any  of  the  acute  effects  of 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating       169 

the  explosive  passions,  the  digestion  is  very 
imperfect ;  that  the  food  is  not  only  not  prop- 
erly digested,  but  vicious  poisons  are  generated 
from  the  residue,  and  malnutrition  and  gen- 
eral debility  follow. 

I  know  a  mother  whose  mental  moods  are 
often  very  prejudicial  to  her  nursing  baby. 
Fear,  anxiety,  anything  which  makes  her 
worry,  any  mental  depression,  very  seriously 
affects  the  baby,  as  does  the  food  she  eats. 

A  sudden  shock  caused  by  a  telegram  or 
letter  containing  bad  news  will  often  com- 
pletely arrest  the  entire  digestive  processes, 
which  will  not  be  resumed  until  the  mind  is 
again  in  comparative  harmony. 

If  we  could  examine  the  stomach  after  a 
severe  mental  shock  from  such  bad  news,  we 
should  find  the  natural  flow  of  fluids  from 
the  digestive  follicles  suspended;  the  follicles 
would  be  found  parched  and  feverish  and  for 
the  time  deprived  of  their  digestive  power. 

So  closely  is  the  digestive  apparatus  con- 
nected with  the  brain  that  an  accident  of  any 
kind,  or  sudden  fright,  will  instantly  stop  all 
of  its  processes,  just  as  if  they  had  received 
an  imperative  command  to  cease  working. 


170  Keeping  Fit 


While  it  is  true  that  chemical  changes  in  the 
system  which  generate  poison  are  often  caused 
by  overeating,  irregular  eating,  and  eating  in- 
compatible things  which  should  never  be  taken 
into  the  stomach  at  the  same  time,  many  can  be 
traced  to  mental  causes,  and  are  often  chronic 
from  the  continued  presence  of  such  poison,  as 
in  the  case  of  a  habitual  worrier. 

Some  people  so  poison  themselves  mentally 
during  their  meals  that  they  cannot  digest  their 
food.  It  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  quarrel  or 
to  be  angry  and  hateful  at  any  time,  but  es- 
pecially so  during  meals.  Whatever  you  do, 
do  not  take  your  troubles  to  the  table  with 
you,  for  there  is  nothing  which  will  ruin  di- 
gestion quicker  than  a  troubled,  worried  mind. 

The  world's  greatest  authorities  now  agree 
that  people  should  not  eat  when  their  minds 
are  disturbed,  that  it  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  be  cheerful  at  meals,  to  eat  only  when 
in  good  humor.  They  also  emphasize  the  im- 
portance of  freedom  from  mental  discord, 
especially  on  retiring,  because  of  the  bad  in- 
fluence of  a  distressed  mind  upon  the  diges- 
tion and  assimilation  of  food  and  the  conse- 
quent loss  of  refreshing  sleep. 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating      171 

In  short,  however  uncomfortable,  unhappy, 
worried,  or  troubled  you  may  be  at  other  times 
of  the  day,  it  is  imperative  to  keep  as  happy 
and  as  harmonious  as  possible  during  meals 
and  the  digestive  hours;  otherwise  the  gastric 
fluids  will  seriously  lack  in  digestive  essentials, 
and  the  whole  system  will  suffer  in  conse- 
quence. 

People  who  carry  their  crotchets  and  wor- 
ries to  the  table,  who  bring  their  surly,  ugly 
moods  to  their  meals,  little  realize  that  by  so 
doing  they  poison  everything  they  eat. 

This  is  one  reason  why  habitual  fretters, 
who  constantly  suffer  from  fear,  anxiety,  and 
the  effects  of  their  explosive  passions,  are  often 
semi-invalids.  Chronic  worriers  are  never 
good  digesters. 

It  is  worth  your  while  to  make  a  determined 
effort  to  form  habits  of  good  cheer  during 
meals  and  also  before  going  to  sleep,  because 
it  will  have  a  powerful  influence  upon  your 
health. 

The  stomach  is  the  partner  of  the  brain  and 
each  suffers  with  the  other.  It  is  just  as  nec- 
essary to  come  to  your  meal  in  good  humor  as 
it  is  to  be  pleasant  when  you  meet  your  friends 


172  Keeping  Fit 


at  a  public  reception.  If  you  manage  always 
to  be  cheerful,  hopeful,  optimistic  at  meal- 
times and  when  you  retire,  you  have  made  a 
conquest  which  will  be  of  untold  benefit  to  you. 

Make  it  a  rule  that,  whatever  your  troubles 
or  anxieties  or  worries  in  your  vocation,  your 
business,  or  your  profession,  there  shall  be  two 
places  where  they  never  will  be  allowed  to 
come — your  dining-room  and  your  sleeping- 
room.  Put  up  a  sign  in  large  letters  in  each 
of  these  rooms, — No  Worry^  No  Anxiety, 
No  Troubles  Allowed  Here.  This  is  a 
Place  for  Joy  and  Gladness,  for  Peace 
AND  Harmony. 

The  dining-room  should  be  regarded  as  a 
place  for  a  jolly  good  time,  a  real  frolic.  Make 
it  a  point  to  bring  your  best  jokes,  your  fun- 
niest stories  to  the  family  table.  Do  not  re- 
serve your  brightest  sayings  for  your  club,  or 
for  other  people's  tables.  Do  not  be  afraid  of 
laughing  at  your  meals.  Do  not  suppress  your 
children  at  the  table.  Let  them  laugh  and 
joke  all  they  wish.  This  is  a  thousand  times 
better  than  indigestion  or  dyspepsia.  Make 
the  dining-room  the  real  amusement  place  of 
the  home.     Let  all  leave  their  grouches,  their 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating      173 


hatreds  and  jealousies,  their  troubles,  their 
worries  outside.  Let  the  dinner-bell  always 
be  a  signal  for  a  jolly  good  time. 

The  fact  that  we  experience  a  pleasurable 
sensation  at  the  mere  thought  of  food,  its  an- 
ticipation, when  we  are  hungry,  that  our  palate 
is  tickled  by  the  appetizing  odors  of  cooking, 
the  agreeable  sensation  we  feel  when  we  actu- 
ally take  time  to  taste  our  food,  are  all  indica- 
tions that  the  eating  process  was  intended  to 
give  great  pleasure.  Horace  Fletcher  says 
that  few  people  have  any  idea  of  the  real  en- 
joyment a  hungry  person  may  derive  from  the 
eating  of  a  crust.  He  says  he  often  eats  a 
piece  of  dry  bran  very  slowly,  masticating  it 
thoroughly,  and  relishes  every  morsel. 

One  of  the  greatest  promoters  of  health  and 
happiness  is  a  habit  of  enjoying  your  food. 
Whenever  you  sit  down  to  eat  just  think  what 
a  wonderful  thing  the  miracle  of  nutrition  is 
and  what  an  enjoyable  thing  the  function  of 
eating  was  intended  to  be.  We  should  ap- 
proach each  meal  with  reverence,  with  appre- 
ciation, and  in  our  happiest  mood.  We  should 
say  to  ourselves,  "I  am  eating  life,  force, 
strength,  and  vigor  which  have  come  from  the 


174  Keeping  Fit 


sun  and  which  are  regulated  by  a  power  back 
of  the  sun. 

The  perpetual  miracle  which  Nature  is  per- 
forming in  our  body  through  the  action  of 
food,  of  pure  air,  and  of  sleep,  would  make 
angels  wonder;  yet  we  scarcely  stop  to  think 
what  all  these  things  mean.  Too  many  of  us 
are  not  unlike  the  hogs  which  eat  nuts  and 
apples  under  trees  without  ever  looking  up  to 
see  whence  they  come  or  even  bestowing  a 
thought  of  gratitude  upon  the  Giver. 

Many  seem  to  think  that  they  were  created 
once  for  all.  They  do  not  realize  that  they 
are  re-creating  themselves  with  every  mouth- 
ful they  eat,  with  every  breath  they  breathe; 
that  life  is  a  perpetual  re-creation,  and  that,  if 
this  creative  power  should  be  withdrawn  from 
us  a  single  second  our  lives  would  be  snuffed 
out. 

There  is  no  experience  more  wonderful, 
more  beautiful,  than  the  transformation  of 
bread,  meat,  vegetables,  or  fruit  into  living  tis- 
sues, nothing  more  marvelous  than  that  the  ap- 
parently lifeless  things  we  swallow  in  a  very 
short  time  think,  act,  live,  create  again.  But 
how  few  ever  think  of  the  miracle  of  it  all! 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating      175 

The  majority  simply  eat  from  necessity  and 
the  mere  animal  enjoyment  they  get  out  of  it. 
Instead  of  making  eating  a  mental  and  spirit- 
ual feast,  a  soul  sacrament,  it  is  with  them  a 
mere  animal  function. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  beautiful  custom 
of  saying  grace  before  partaking  of  a  meal  has 
become  obsolete  with  so  many ;  for,  although  it 
was  often  said  in  a  merely  perfunctory  way, 
yet  it  did  call  a  halt  for  an  instant,  tended  to 
make  us  think  of  what  we  were  about  to 
do,  and  gave  us  an  opportunity  to  express  a 
thought  of  gratitude  to  the  Creator  of  all  we 
were  going  to  enjoy.  But,  even  then,  what  it 
all  meant,  the  sacredness  and  the  marvelous- 
ness  of  it  all,  the  fact  that  our  eating  process 
included  re-creation,  seldom  entered  peoples' 
heads. 

The  next  time  you  partake,  even  of  an  apple 
or  an  orange,  think  of  the  wonderful  intelli- 
gence which  prepared  it  for  you.  Just  con- 
sider that  the  same  creative  power  which  made 
such  delicious  fruits  adapted  your  senses,  your 
physical  being,  for  their  enjoyment.  So,  every 
time  you  see  a  beautiful  face,  a  beautiful  bit 
of  nature,  or  any  other  beautiful  thing  any- 


176  Keeping  Fit 


where,  remember  that  it  was  the  Power  which 
created  you  that  adapted  these  things  for  your 
eye,  for  your  consciousness,  for  your  enjoy- 
ment. The  next  time  you  sit  down  to  a  meal, 
whether  audibly  or  silently,  offer  up  your 
gratitude  and  your  appreciation  to  the  Creator 
for  what  it  all  means. 

You  will  be  surprised  to  find  how  much 
more  you  will  get  out  of  your  food  if  you  mix 
love  and  appreciation  of  its  source,  a  sweet, 
beautiful  cheerfulness,  with  it;  if  you  get  into 
the  habit  of  thinking  of  the  meal  as  the  par- 
taking of  a  sacrament,  something  which  is  to 
re-create  your  very  life,  to  renew  your  thought, 
your  vigor,  to  sharpen  and  improve  all  your 
faculties. 

Nothing  will  give  you  greater  satisfaction 
than  to  learn  to  enjoy  your  food  because  of 
the  wonderful  things  it  does  for  you,  by  think- 
ing that  it  is  good  for  you,  that  it  is  going  to 
make  you  strong  and  vigorous,  that  it  is  going 
to  re-create  you  and  make  you  more  fit  for 
your  life  duties. 

The  more  we  spiritualize  our  meals,  the 
greater  benefit  we  shall  receive  from  them. 
The  more  of  the  spiritual  we  project  into  them 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating       177 


the  more  physical  and  spiritual  stamina  we 
shall  draw  from  them.  It  makes  a  tremen- 
dous difference  in  our  lives  whether  we  get 
mental  and  spiritual  results  from  our  food  by 
partaking  of  it  in  appreciation,  in  cheerful- 
ness, in  love  and  harmony,  by  looking  on  it 
in  a  spiritual  as  well  as  a  physical  sense,  or 
whether  we  get  mere  animal  results  because 
of  our  animal  appetites  and  the  display  of  ani- 
mal propensities  in  eating. 

Partaking  of  a  meal  ought  to  be  a  real  sacra- 
ment, for  in  this  miracle  of  food  we  are  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  creative  processes  which 
first  formed  us  and  which  are  constantly  re- 
creating and  renewing  our  lives  every  moment 
of  our  existence.  Children  should  be  taught 
what  it  means  to  sit  down  to  table  in  the  right 
mental  attitude.  They  should  be  taught  to 
mix  gratitude,  appreciation,  love,  affection, 
and  good  cheer  with  their  food.  It  would  have 
a  wonderful  influence  upon  their  health,  their 
general  well-being  and  happiness. 

If  fathers  of  families  were  to  show  a  proper 
realization  of  these  things,  they  would  never 
think  of  sitting  buried  in  a  newspaper  during 
an  entire  meal,  or  of  bringing  home  their  busi- 


178  Keeping  Fit 


ness  worries  and  talking  them  over  at  dinner. 
Nor  would  mothers  nag  at  the  children  to  "be- 
have themselves"  and  not  talk  or  laugh  while 
they  were  eating.  Quarreling,  fault-finding, 
bickering  or  nagging  at  a  meal  would  be  looked 
upon  as  really  sinful.  People  would  no  more 
think  of  doing  such  things  at  table  than  they 
would  in  church. 

If  people  not  only  knew  what  to  eat,  but 
also  how  to  eat,  their  health  and  efficiency 
and  happiness  would  be  insured.  I  have  in 
mind  a  family  in  which  quarreling,  especially 
at  meals,  has  seriously  affected  the  health  of 
nearly  every  one  of  its  members.  If  our  men- 
tal attitude  is  not  right,  particularly  when 
eating,  our  health  will  not  be  right.  Not  one 
of  the  functions  of  the  body  can  be  normally 
performed  when  the  mind  is  in  an  abnormal 
condition,  whether  it  is  suffering  from  the  cy- 
clonic effects  of  a  hot  temper  or  from  fear, 
worry,  jealousy,  or  despondency. 

We  should  never  lose  sight  of  the  fact — and 
we  should  impress  it  on  our  children,  in  the 
home  and  in  the  school, — that  digestive  proc- 
esses follow  mental  processes,  and  coincide  with 
them.    If  we  persistently,  habitually  entertain 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating       179 

joy  thoughts,  contentment  thoughts,  good- will 
thoughts,  which  are  always  working  in  us  for 
health,  and  which  produce  harmony,  serenity, 
and  poise,  we  tend  to  establish  mental  health; 
and  when  this  is  done,  the  body  will  fall  into 
line.  On  the  other  hand,  discordant,  inhar- 
monious thoughts  will  manifest  themselves  in 
various  forms  in  the  body ;  now  as  rheumatism, 
now  dyspepsia,  headache,  or  some  other  form 
of  ill  health. 

Appetite,  which  is  the  call  of  the  whole  cell 
life  of  the  body  for  nutriment,  food  and  drink, 
is  also  powerfully  affected  by  our  moods,  and 
by  the  eye.  A  sudden  fit  of  anger,  no  matter 
how  hungry  we  may  have  been  before,  will 
for  the  time  rob  us  of  every  particle  of  ap- 
petite. The  finding  of  disgusting  things  min- 
gled with  our  food  will  have  the  same  effect. 
We  all  know  how,  when  traveling,  we  have 
been  affected  in  a  hotel  or  restaurant  by  soiled 
linen.  How  quickly  a  fly  or  other  insect 
dropped  in  the  milk  we  are  about  to  drink 
will  kill  our  appetite!  Our  sensation  of  hun- 
ger departs  instantly  and  the  very  thought  of 
food  nauseates  us.  Sometimes  the  thing  may 
not  be  disgusting  in  itself,  but  in  being  in  the 


180  Keeping  Fit 

___  _  ^ 

wrong  place.  The  finding  a  hair,  for  instance, 
in  soup  or  in  any  dish  at  the  beginning  of  a 
meal  will  so  affect  a  sensitive  stomach  that  it 
will  not  take  another  mouthful.  Just  think 
of  the  tremendous  power  thought  must  have 
to  cause  this  instantaneous  revulsion  and 
complete  cessation  of  all  the  digestive  proc- 
esses ! 

Our  appetite  is  very  much  dependent  upon 
the  suggestion  carried  to  the  mind  through  the 
eye.  The  appearance  of  the  table ;  soiled  china 
or  linen,  or  of  a  slovenly  waiter,  with  grease 
spots  all  over  his  clothing,  or  the  knowledge 
that  the  cook  is  not  cleanly — how  quickly  these 
things  nauseate  us!  No  matter  how  much  we 
may  really  need  nourishment,  we  cannot  eat 
while  the  mind  is  filled  with  such  pictures. 

I  know  a  lady  who  is  so  extremely  sensitive 
to  the  appearance  of  things  that  often,  when 
traveling  in  foreign  countries,  she  is  nearly 
half  starved  because  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  food  is  served,  when  it  is  not  the  food  it- 
self, offends  her  taste  through  the  eye  so  that 
many  times  she  cannot  eat.  Her  sense  of 
fitness,  her  love  of  everything  that  is  attractive 
and  cleanly,  is  repelled  by  the  least  slovenliness, 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating       181 


or  sign  of  dirt,  especially  in  connection  with 
food. 

Even  those  who  are  not  so  fastidious  as  this 
lady  are  more  or  less  affected  by  the  appear- 
ance of  things  and  their  general  surroundings 
when  eating.  The  very  food  that  would  nau- 
seate us,  no  matter  how  hungry  we  might  be, 
in  a  filthy  restaurant,  full  of  flies,  in  the  slums, 
if  served  in  a  first-class  hotel,  on  delicate  china 
and  spotless  linen,  in  the  midst  of  flowers,  we 
should  probably  think  delicious. 

A  friend  of  mine  who  is  very  fond  of  oysters 
when  delicately  served  on  the  half-shell  on 
cracked  ice,  would  be  disgusted  by  the  same 
oysters  served  on  a  thick  plate,  without  the 
shells  or  the  ice.  He  says  that,  no  matter  how 
he  might  long  for  it,  he  could  not  possibly 
swallow  an  oyster  under  such  conditions. 

Our  esthetic  taste  has  a  powerful  influence 
upon  our  physical  taste.  Caterers  in  high- 
class  restaurants  appreciate  this  and  do  every- 
thing in  their  power,  by  a  tempting  display  of 
delicious  viands,  daintily  served  with  the  ac- 
companiment of  the  finest  music,  beautiful  sil- 
ver, cut  glass  and  china,  and  exquisite  flowers, 
to  attract  and  hold  patrons. 


182  Keeping  Fit 


In  the  better  homes  in  Spain,  previous  to 
meals,  the  most  tempting  and  dehcious  eatables 
and  dainties  are  placed  on  the  tables  in  the 
most  attractive  manner,  merely  to  tempt  the 
appetite.  They  are  appetizers,  not  supposed 
to  be  eaten,  for  they  are  removed  before  the 
meals  begin. 

Not  only  is  our  appetite  improved  by  eating 
in  an  attractive  environment,  but  our  general 
health  also  is  improved,  for  pleasant  surround- 
ings always  have  a  cheerful  uplifting  influence 
on  the  mind.  The  table,  the  china,  the  linen, 
and  everything  associated  with  our  meals 
should  be  as  clean  and  as  attractive  as  possi- 
ble. Even  a  dinner  of  bread  and  cheese  and 
milk  may  be  served  in  such  a  way  as  to  whet 
the  appetite.  If  the  tablecloth  is  not  of  fine 
damask,  it  may  be  clean  and  white,  no  matter 
how  coarse;  if  there  is  no  cut  glass  or  china, 
the  dishes  may  be  spotless;  and,  if  the  home 
be  in  the  country,  the  table  may  be  decorated 
with  a  few  simple  wild  flowers,  which  will  add 
a  grace  to  the  meal  that  may  be  lacking  at 
many  a  rich  but  vulgarly  spread  table,  where 
genuine  taste  and  refinement  are  lacking. 

While  everything  possible  should  be  done 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating       183 

to  make  the  meal  attractive  to  the  eye  and 
tempting  to  the  palate,  the  appetite  should 
never  be  unduly  stimulated  or  pressed.  This 
often  leads  to  overeating,  when,  perhaps,  the 
stomach  needs  a  rest,  and  should  not  be 
urged. 

Many  suffer  all  the  ills  of  overeating  vrith- 
out  realizing  that  they  are  really  eating  more 
than  they  need  because  they  are  constantly 
prodding  their  appetite  with  cocktails  and 
all  sorts  of  artificial  stimulants.  I  know 
hearty  men  who  take  preparations  of  iron  and 
wine,  and  other  appetizers,  to  make  them  eat 
more  when  they  have  already  eaten  too  much. 
They  seem  to  think  that  unless  they  eat  a  great 
deal  they  won't  have  much  strength. 

Every  kind  of  artificial  appetite-producer  is 
vicious  and  always  dangerous.  Mothers  do  not 
realize  the  harm  they  do  by  urging  their  chil- 
dren to  eat  when  they  are  ill  and  have  no  desire 
to,  telling  them  that  if  they  do  not  eat  they  will 
not  have  any  strength.  Many  of  our  ills  are 
greatly  exaggerated  and  the  cure  long  delayed 
because  of  crowding  nourishment  into  the  tis- 
sues, which  may  already  be  suffering  from  an 
overload,  or  may  not  be  in  a  condition  to  ab- 


184  Keeping  Fit 


sorb  any.  Nature  knows  best  when  all  the 
tissues  of  the  body  are  properly  nourished,  or 
when,  for  any  reason,  they  are  not  in  condition 
to  absorb  food,  and  she  will  notify  us  when 
we  need  more.  Every  cell  in  the  body  will 
call  for  food  when  it  requires  it.  But,  in  order 
to  avoid  the  danger  of  not  following  Nature's 
guidance,  we  must  eat  very  slowly,  and  mas- 
ticate thoroughly.  Otherwise,  we  may  get  too 
much  food  into  the  stomach  before  the  appe- 
tite has  had  time  to  indicate  her  satisfaction 
by  the  cessation  of  desire. 

Nature  is  the  best  guide  to  the  quantity  of 
food  essential  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the 
cell  life,  and  if  we  eat  properly  she  will  notify 
us  when  we  have  taken  in  sufficient  fuel  to 
run  the  human  engine  with  the  greatest  effi- 
ciency. But  when  we  bolt  our  food,  fill  the 
stomach  in  a  few  minutes,  the  saliva  and  the 
other  gastric  juices  do  not  have  sufficient  time 
to  dissolve  it  and  the  cells,  which  clamor  for 
food,  have  no  means  of  determining  when  the 
stomach  contains  enough.  Then  the  digestive 
apparatus  is  seriously  taxed,  trying  to  take 
care  of  its  unnecessary  burden. 

Nature  knows  her  business  far  better  than 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating       185 

we  do;  and,  if  we  obey  her  call,  she  will  not 
only  tell  us  how  much  to  eat,  but  also  when 
to  eat.  We  have  all  experienced  the  flow  of 
what  has  been  called  the  "appetite  juice," 
which  is  developed  in  the  mouth  when  we  are 
very  hungry,  when  perhaps  we  have  been  out 
fishing  or  tramping  in  the  woods,  and  on  our 
return  smell  the  delicious  odors  of  cooking 
food.  This  appetite  juice  is  Nature's  call  to 
eat.  But  how  many  people  go  to  meals  just 
because  it  is  time  to  eat,  not  because  they  need 
anything,  or  have  any  appetite,  but  they  eat 
because  they  think  they  ought  to !  Regularity 
is  of  great  importance,  but  it  is  much  better 
to  skip  a  meal,  taking,  perhaps,  something 
very  light — a  glass  of  milk,  an  orange,  or  fruit 
of  some  other  kind — than  to  eat  an  ordinary 
meal  just  because  you  think  the  body  requires 
it.  When  you  "don't  feel  like  it,"  you  may 
be  sure  it  is  Nature's  protest  against  eat- 
ing, and  to  eat  at  such  a  time,  especially  a 
hearty  meal,  to  force  food  when  the  tissues  are 
already  sick  with  too  much  nourishment  or 
when  the  body  is  in  some  way  disorganized, 
is  positively  dangerous. 

What  a  vast  difference  it  would  make  in  the 


186  Keeping  Fit 


health,  happiness,  and  efficiency  of  the  entire 
race  if  we  were  taught  from  childhood  not 
only  what  we  eat  for,  what  a  wonderful  and 
beautiful  miracle  our  food  performs  in  re-cre- 
ating the  body,  but  also  all  about  the  hygiene 
of  eating!  Ignorance  of  our  physical  needs, 
of  the  marvelous  construction  of  our  body,  and 
of  the  laws  governing  its  proper  nourishment 
and  maintenance,  is  the  great  enemy  of  hu- 
manity. There  are  multitudes  of  men  and 
women  who,  if  they  were  enlightened  in  regard 
to  the  food  question,  could  double  or  treble 
their  ability,  their  originality,  their  effective- 
ness, their  brain  power,  and  their  happiness. 

In  order  to  be  the  highest,  the  most  efficient 
type  of  man  or  woman,  it  is  just  as  necessary 
to  cultivate  the  body,  to  develop  its  greatest 
possible  strength  and  beauty,  as  it  is  to  de- 
velop the  mind,  to  raise  it  to  its  highest  power ; 
and,  since  the  body  is  renewed,  re-created  by 
the  food  we  eat,  it  is  easy  to  see  what  an  im- 
portant part  it  plays  in  our  lives. 

To  have  a  perfectly  healthy  body  one  must 
possess  a  cheerful,  healthy,  optimistic  mind. 
Both  are  dependent  to  a  great  extent  on  what 
we  take  into  our  stomach.    Love,  peace,  joy. 


Appetite  and  Joy  in  Eating       187 

gladness,  kindness,  unselfishness,  contentment, 
serenity — these  are  the  mental  attributes  which, 
by  bringing  all  the  bodily  functions  into  har- 
mony, produce  a  sound,  healthy  body.  Any 
one  who  chooses  may  externalize  these  attri- 
butes in  himself  by  right  eating  and  right 
thinking. 

Use    three   physicians; 
Still,  first,  Dr.  Quiet, 
Next,   Dr.   Merrjinan, 
And  then  Dr.  Dyet. 

— Regimen  Sanitates  Salemitanum. 


IX 

OVEREATING 

I  hold  this  to  be  the  rule  of  life,  "Too  much  of  anything  is 
bad." — Terence. 

The  food  from  which  a  man  abstains,  after  he  has  eaten 
heartily,  is  of  more  benefit  to  him  than  that  which  he  has 
eaten. — L-ouis  Comaro. 

"Hunger  and  thirst  scarcely  kill  any. 
But  gluttony  and  drink  kill  a  great  many." 

The  cattle  know  when  to  leave  their  pasture,  but  a  foolish 
man  knows  not  the  measure  of  his  own  appetite. 

— Haxs  Christian   Andersen. 

Some,  as  thou  saw'st,  by  violent  stroke  shall  die. 

By  fire,  flood,  famine;  by  intemperance  more 

In  meats  and  drinks,  which  on  the  earth  shall  bring 

Diseases  dire,  of  which  a  monstrous  crew 

Before  thee  shall  appear,  that  thou  may'st  know 

What  misery  the  inabstinence  of  Eve 

Shall  bring  on  men. 

— John  Milton. 

"Are  you  full  inside?"  asked  a  woman  of 
the  coachman,  gazing  dubiously  at  a  some- 
what crowded  stage.  Upon  this  Charles  Lamb 
put  his  head  through  the  window  and  said: 
"I  am  quite  full  inside;  that  last  piece  of 

188 


Overeating  189 


pudding  at  Mrs.  Gillman's  did  the  business 
for  me." 

For  how  many  a  boy  has  "that  last"  green 
apple,  that  last  piece  of  pie,  that  last  cookie, 
etc.,  done  woful  stomachic  or  colic  business! 
For  how  many  girls,  or  even  women,  has  one 
more  dish  of  ice-cream,  or  a  handful  more  of 
chocolate  creams,  done  the  business  of  a  sour 
stomach  or  a  start  in  facial  pimples  or  other 
disfigurements  of  complexion !  For  how  many 
a  man  has  that  last  helping  at  table  or  that 
last  glass  of  drink  brought  headaches,  indi- 
gestion, and  poor  work! 

"But  what  of  that?"  asks  the  boy,  when  the 
trouble  is  over;  "ain't  apples,  and  pies,  and 
cookies  good?  Then  what  were  they  made 
for?" 

Addison  says  that  Diogenes,  meeting  a 
young  man  who  was  going  to  a  feast,  took 
him  up  in  the  street  and  carried  him  home  to 
his  friends,  as  one  who  was  running  into 
imminent  danger,  had  not  he  prevented 
him. 

"How  many,  so  far?"  asked  Dr.  Lewis,  who 
had  called  upon  his  friend,  Jacob  Schneider, 
about  9  o'clock  one  evening,  and  found  him 


190  Keeping  Fit 


alone,  very  seriously  occupied  with  a  big  wood- 
en bowl  of  doughnuts. 

"Oh,  eight  or  ten,  perhaps — only  a  few,  any 
way." 

^'Didn't  you  have  supper?" 

*'Yes,  of  course  I  did;  I  ate  supper  as  usual, 
and  I  shouldn't  have  touched  these,  but  some- 
how I  didn't  feel  very  well  and  was  sort  o' 
lonesome,  and  these  doughnuts  are  kind  o' 
company  for  me,  you  know.  The  old  woman 
always  fries  them  for  me  in  the  evening,  and 
when  they  are  nice  and  hot  I  sometimes  eat 
more'n  twenty  of  'em,  just  to  sort  o'  pass 
away  the  time,  you  know." 

His  wife  would  urge  Jacob  to  "clean  up" 
the  doughnuts  evenings,  for  he  wouldn't  seem 
to  care  for  them  at  all  mornings,  partly  be- 
cause they  would  be  cold,  but  even  more  be- 
cause of  his  catarrh,  biliousness,  liver  torpidity, 
constipation,  sleepiness,  dullness,  low  spirits, 
etc.,  which  always  bothered  him  the  most  morn- 
ings. But  the  doughnuts  after  supper  had 
nothing  to  do  with  those  things,  or  with  his 
pimples,  blotches,  and  yellow  or  brown  spots! 
Of  course  not!  Those  were  mysterious  afflic- 
tions, which  the  doctor  would  help  him  to  get 


Overeating  191 


rid  of;  and  perhaps  would  show  him  how  to 
avoid. 

The  sin  of  overeating  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
rich  or  the  well-to-do.  A  Jacob  Schneider  with 
his  doughnuts  can  be  as  much  a  glutton  as  a 
Dives  or  a  Lucullus  with  rich  and  costly  foods 
and  rare  wines.  Excess  in  eating  is  not  con- 
fined to  any  class  or  country.  It  has  been  well 
said  that  civilized  man  lives  upon  one-fourth 
of  the  food  he  takes,  and  the  other  three-fourths 
he  takes  at  the  peril  of  his  life.  The  great 
majority  of  people  suffer  seriously  from  over- 
eating, from  burdening  the  system  to  get 
rid  of  what  it  cannot  convert  into  tissue  and 
power. 

In  reality,  only  a  small  part  of  what  over- 
eaters  take  into  the  system  is  required  for  the 
building  up  and  maintaining  of  the  tissues. 
The  residue  is  only  a  poisonous,  dangerous 
burden,  and  instead  of  being  built  up  most  of 
it  becomes  the  body's  enemy.  It  overtaxes 
the  energy  of  the  different  organs,  which,  in- 
stead of  going  to  increase  the  power  of  the 
whole  system,  is  expended  in  getting  rid  of 
the  excess  of  food  and  in  eliminating  the  re- 
sulting poisons. 


192  Keeping  Fit 


Perhaps  more  of  the  American  people  than 
of  any  other  nation  mar  their  health  and  hap- 
piness and  cripple  their  careers  by  overeating 
and  eating  the  wrong  kinds  of  food.  The  great 
majority  of  us  eat  twice  as  much  as  is  con- 
sistent with  the  best  physical  condition  and 
do  not  realize  what  a  tremendous  risk  we  run 
in  so  doing.  It  never  occurs  to  the  average 
man  or  woman  that  any  surplus  nourishment 
taken  into  the  body,  any  food,  no  matter  how 
good,  which  is  not  necessary  for  the  healthful 
nourishment  and  maintenance  of  the  cell  tis- 
sues, becomes  a  perpetual  menace  in  the  way 
of  intestinal  putrefaction  poisoning.  This 
clogging  of  the  system  through  overeating  and 
the  consequent  putrefaction  of  unnecessary 
and  unabsorbed  nutriment  cause  more  head- 
aches, dyspepsia,  biliousness,  mental  dullness, 
and  general  lack  of  ambition  than  almost  any- 
thing else. 

We  all  know  how  much  better  we  feel  in 
the  morning  after  eating  a  comparatively  light 
dinner  the  night  before  than  after  a  rich  and 
heavy  meal  of  which  we  have  partaken  too 
generously.  Every  one  ought  to  wake  in  the 
morning  with  new  life,  feeling  wonderfully 


Overeating  193 


refreshed  and  rejuvenated,  and  having  a  keen 
zest  for  the  day's  work.  The  reason  we  do 
not  is  because  we  violate  so  many  of  Nature's 
laws,  especially  that  one  which  bids  us  eat 
moderately.  Some  of  our  best  physicians 
claim  that  all  sorts  of  mental  and  physical  ills 
are  fed  and  aggravated  by  the  poisons  of  an 
excess  of  food  half  digested  and  assimilated, 
and  that  there  are  diseases  which  could  be 
cured  merely  by  the  adoption  of  an  extremely 
plain  and  simple  diet.  They  say  that  apo- 
plexy, heart  failure,  and,  in  many  cases,  sud- 
den death,  can  be  traced  directly  to  stomachs 
overtaxed  and  weak,  yet  pushed  on  to  tasks  for 
which  they  are  unequal  by  those  who  have  not 
yet  learned  to  control  their  appetites. 

How  many  people  are  suffering  from 
chronic  headaches,  biliousness,  nervousness, 
rheumatism,  gout,  and  all  sorts  of  liver  and 
head  troubles,  who  would  be  entirely  relieved 
of  those  evils  just  by  quitting  their  overeating 
and  regulating  their  diet  to  suit  their  ages, 
occupations,  and  personal  needs! 

Business  men  who  overeat  complain  because 
they  feel  stupid  and  dull  the  next  day,  yet  it 
never  seems  to  occur  to  them  that  their  tern- 


194  Keeping  Fit 

porary  stupidity  and  dullness  have  anything 
to  do  with  their  eating  habits.  Some  of  them 
cut  down  their  efficiency  greatly  by  habitually 
overeating. 

It  is  bad  enough  to  overeat  in  the  evening, 
when  the  day's  work  is  done,  and  the  brain, 
at  least,  if  not  the  poor  overworked  stomach, 
can  have  a  rest;  but  to  overeat  in  the  middle 
of  the  day  and  then  force  the  brain  to  go  on 
working  the  rest  of  the  day  is  even  worse.  I 
used  to  go  to  luncheon  frequently  with  a  prom- 
inent business  man  who  complained  that  he 
rarely  felt  well  or  did  good  work  in  the  after- 
noon, so  he  was  obliged  to  do  all  of  his  im- 
portant work  in  the  morning.  He  said  he 
couldn't  understand  why  this  was  so,  for  he 
felt  all  right  the  whole  forenoon — indeed,  un- 
til after  he  had  lunch;  and  then  all  the  rest 
of  the  day  he  did  not  feel  like  himself;  he  had 
no  vim,  no  ambition  to  do  things.  No  won- 
der! When  he  told  me  this  I  began  to  notice 
what  he  ate  at  luncheon.  He  invariably  ghose 
the  most  complicated  meal  he  could  get  on  a 
large  bill  of  fare.  He  partook  of  soup,  fish, 
several  kinds  of  meat  and  other  dishes,  with 
rich  gravies  and  mixed  sauces,   followed  by 


Overeating  195 


pudding  and  various  kinds  of  sweets.  In  other 
words,  he  ate  an  enormous  luncheon  and  a 
great  variety  of  food ;  a  heavy  dinner  of  several 
courses  rather  than  a  lunch.  I  have  lunched 
with  him  on  occasions  when  his  check  would 
amount  to  five  or  six  dollars.  Yet  he  wondered 
why  he  could  not  do  any  good  mental  work  in 
the  afternoon,  and  why  he  had  nervous  dys- 
pepsia, liver  trouble,  severe  headaches,  and 
insomnia  a  large  part  of  the  time ! 

He  would  sometimes  express  his  disgust 
when  I  would  take  a  bowl  of  bread  and  milk 
or  rice  and  milk,  with  perhaps  an  orange  or  a 
simple  pudding,  while  he  gorged  himself  with 
a  lot  of  food  he  did  not  need  and  of  which  his 
digestive  apparatus  could  not  take  care;  but 
at  the  same  time  he  envied  me  my  better 
health. 

I  once  suggested  that  he  should  follow  my 
example,  and  try  the  experiment  of  eating 
only  light  things  for  luncheon ;  such  as  rice  and 
milk,  vegetables  and  fruits,  and  see  if  he  could 
not  do  as  good  work  in  the  afternoon  as  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  doing  in  the  morning.  He 
laughed  and  said  perhaps  he  might  try,  but 
he  did  not  think  he  could  live  on  such  ''chicken 


196  Keeping  Fit 


feed."  He  was  then  about  to  leave  the  city 
on  a  business  trip,  and  I  did  not  see  him  again 
that  summer.  A  few  months  later,  however, 
I  met  him  by  chance  and  was  much  surprised 
at  the  marked  improvement  in  his  appearance. 
He  looked  like  a  new  man,  brisk,  alert,  happy, 
all  alive.  I  asked  him  what  had  worked  so 
marvelous  a  change  in  his  appearance  in  such 
a  short  time.  "I  followed  your  advice,"  he 
laughed;  "stopped  eating  rich  and,  heavy 
dishes  at  luncheon,  and  took  a  great  deal  more 
exercise  in  the  open  air  than  I  used  to.  It 
was  not  long  before  I  found  I  could  do  as  good 
work  in  the  afternoon  as  in  the  forenoon.  My 
food  didn't  distress  me,  either,  and  I  was  soon 
sleeping  better  and  feeling  better  in  every 
way.  But  I  didn't  have  any  idea,  until  you 
spoke  to  me  about  those  lunches,  what  the 
trouble  was.  Nothing  would  induce  me  to  go 
back  to  them." 

How  many  are  as  ignorant  as  this  man  was 
in  regard  to  the  philosophy  of  eating  and  the 
physiology  of  digestion!  They  do  not  realize 
that  a  stomach  filled  with  a  great  variety  of 
rich  foods  requires  nearly  all  of  the  energy  that 
the  blood  can  generate  for  hours  to  take  care 


Overeating  197 


of  the  conglomerate  mass.  They  do  not  know 
that  the  digestive  organs  alone  are  capable  of 
holding  all  of  the  blood  in  the  body,  and  that 
after  eating  it  is  called  from  all  parts  of  the 
system  to  those  organs  in  order  to  do  this 
extra  work  of  digestion  quickly  and  well. 

Hence,  nearly  all  of  the  blood  is  taken  away 
from  the  brain  during  the  digestive  processes. 
Yet  they  rush  from  a  heavy  lunch  back  to  their 
offices,  and  force  their  brains  to  continue  work- 
ing, totally  ignorant  of  the  danger  they  incur 
in  doing  so;  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  mental 
work  requires  a  great  deal  of  blood  in  the  brain 
which  it  is  impossible  to  supply  for  several 
hours  after  a  hearty  meal. 

They  remind  me  of  a  friend  who  was  much 
troubled  by  what  he  was  pleased  to  call  the 
slowness  and  laziness  of  his  old  horse,  whose 
working  days  were  practically  over.  A  neigh- 
bor to  whom  he  was  complaining  of  the  ani- 
mal's defects  advised  him  to  try  a  new  and 
wonderful  remedy — a  whip.  He  said  that  it 
had  always  worked  wonders  with  his  horses, 
and  that,  if  applied  when  they  first  grew  tired 
or  showed  any  inclination  to  lag,  it  would  im- 
mediately wake  them  up.    Without  delay  my 


198  Keeping  Fit 


friend  procured  one  of  these  wonderful  arti- 
cles, and  whenever  his  horse  lagged  applied  it 
with  great  vigor  and  was  well  pleased  with 
the  results.  For  a  short  time  the  treatment 
seemed  to  work  like  a  charm,  but,  on  going  to 
the  stable  one  morning,  to  his  great  dismay 
he  found  the  poor  old  animal  lying  dead  in  his 
stall. 

Many  a  man  keeps  slashing  his  brain  to 
work,  when  the  blood  which  sustains  and  nour- 
ishes it  has  been  drawn  away  to  help  the  di- 
gestive apparatus  in  its  processes  of  assimila- 
tion and  absorption.  As  a  consequence  both 
the  brain  and  the  digestive  organs  are  often 
taxed  beyond  endurance  and  the  whole  system 
succumbs  to  the  cruelty  of  its  master.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  overeating  and  eating  too 
rich  foods,  with  all  the  attendant  evils  that  they 
cause,  cut  short  by  years  the  lives  of  many 
men.  ^ 

It  is  a  rare  thing  for  a  man  who  habitually 
overeats  to  do  anything  great  in  literature,  in 
art,  or  in  any  other  line  of  human  endeavor. 
As  a  rule,  overeaters  are  never  in  physical  and 
mental  condition  for  great  achievement.  The 
brain  will  not  give  up  its  best  excepting  under 


Overeating  199 


absolutely  normal  conditions.  When  one  is 
guilty  of  excesses  of  any  kind,  it  will  refuse  to 
realize  its  maximum  of  efficiency.  Nature 
forces  us  to  live  simply  and  naturally,  or  pay 
the  price  in  inferior  mental  product.  High 
living  and  high  thinking  do  not  go  together. 

Excess  in  eating,  or  eating  rich,  complicated 
foods,  is  usually  accompanied  by  other  forms 
of  self-indulgence,  and  those  who  thus  indulge 
are  not  the  world's  producers,  nor  are  they 
models  of  virtue.  They  are  usually  the  con- 
sumers and  demoralizers,  the  blighters  of 
virtue. 

The  tissues  require  very  simple  food  ele- 
ments, but  in  our  modern  life  we  are  not  only 
constantly  forcing  the  system  to  take  care  of 
a  great  excess  of  food,  but  also  of  too  great  a 
variety  and  too  complicated  foods.  The  brains 
of  most  people  are  so  clogged  with  overnu- 
trition  that  clear  thinking  is  impossible.  When 
the  digestive  organs  cannot  clear  themselves 
of  food  without  chemical  decomposition  and 
the  consequent  generation  of  poisons,  when  an 
excess  of  nutriment  is  forced  upon  the  brain 
cells,  the  thought  is  clouded  and  the  mental 
faculties  cannot  be  used  with  effect.     It  is  a 


200  Keeping  Fit 


noticeable  fact  that  the  world's  greatest  writers 
have  been  very  simple  livers. 

The  body  cells  are  so  inactive,  so  clogged 
from  overeating,  so  deadened  by  dissipation, 
that  many  people  are  scarcely  half  alive. 
They  go  about  in  a  sort  of  torpid  state,  like 
wild  animals  just  coming  out  from  a  season  of 
hibernation.  They  cannot  think  or  act  clearly, 
consecutively,  or  with  force.  Very  few  people 
live  so  that  they  are  alive  all  over.  Some  are 
half-dead  in  their  livers,  some  in  other  internal 
organs,  their  muscles,  or  some  other  part  of 
the  body. 

When  a  man  is  perfectly  normal  he  feels 
conscious  of  a  power  which  borders  on  omnipo- 
tence ;  he  feels  that  he  is  in  close  touch  with  the 
Divine  and  yearns  for  achievement,  which  is 
as  normal  to  him  as  breathing.  In  one  who 
lives  a  truly  normal  life,  every  cell  is  clear, 
clean-cut,  is  not  clogged  or  befogged*  from 
overeating,  or  self-indulgence  of  any  kind,  but 
is  thoroughly  alive,  sentient,  responsive.  This 
is  the  life  that  gives  power,  the  life  that  gen- 
erates vigor. 

What  can  be  expected  from  a  man  when 
more  than  half  of  the  cells  of  his  body  are  half 


Overeating  201 


asleep,  when  they  are  choked,  clogged  from 
unscientific  living,  under-exercising  and  over- 
feeding? 

I  know  some  enormous  eaters  who  are  con- 
stantly complaining  of  being  tired.  They  say 
they  are  tired  when  they  get  up ;  they  are  nearly 
always  tired.  There  is  no  doubt  that  multi- 
tudes of  people  have  this  chronic  tired  feeling 
largely  because  of  overeating.  Much  of  their 
vitality  is  exhausted  in  taking  care  of  the  sur- 
plus which  the  body  cannot  use.  This  surplus 
not  only  clogs  the  system,  and  does  infinite 
harm  to  many  of  the  organs,  especially  the 
liver — not  only  causes  indigestion,  biliousness, 
and  kidney  troubles — but  often,  when  overeat- 
ing is  habitual,  develops  a  coarseness  of  ap- 
pearance which  is  sometimes  almost  repulsive. 
Nothing  else  is  more  fatal  to  a  woman's  beauty 
than  overeating.  An  excess  of  food  or  a  very 
rich  and  complicated  diet  will  soon  ruin  the 
best  complexion  in  the  world. 

Multitudes  suffer  all  their  lives  all  sorts  of 
discomforts  and  little  ailments  from  overeat- 
ing, without  knowing  the  cause.  I  know  men 
who  constantly  complain  of  a  dull  heaviness 
in  the  head.   They  cannot  think  clearly.   They 


202  Keeping  Fit 


do  not  know  why,  but  it  is  because  they  habit- 
ually overeat.  Many  have  indigestion,  or  are 
bilious,  stupid,  sleepy  most  of  the  time.  They 
often  think  there  is  something  the  matter  with 
their  heads  when  the  whole  trouble  comes  from 
their  poor  stomachs,  which  are  constantly  over- 
loaded. Then  they  resort  to  drugs  and  pills 
of  all  kinds,  which  naturally  do  not  reach  the 
real  cause  of  the  trouble,  and  frequently  ag- 
gravate the  effect. 

Dyspeptics  are  continually  dosing  them- 
selves with  medicinal  stimulants,  and  trying 
to  find  what  they  can  eat  with  safety.  Every- 
thing disagrees  with  their  digestion,  yet  they 
never  stop  for  a  day  or  two  to  allow  the  wheels 
to  rest;  they  never  think  of  giving  their  poor, 
overworked  stomachs  a  holiday.  The  health 
of  many  of  them  would  be  revolutionized  by 
cutting  down  their  food  supply*.  Great  num- 
bers of  people  who  used  to  suffer  from  dys- 
pepsia, headaches,  or  other  ailments  have  been 
materially  helped  by  eating  only  two  meals  a 
day  instead  of  three  or  four,  as  formerly. 

It  is  infinitely  better  to  be  kept  a  little  short 
of  food — to  be  compelled  to  go  hiuigry  occa- 
sionally— than  to  have  one's  system  perpet- 


Overeating  203 


ually  gorged  with  nutriment  which  is  not  only 
not  necessary,  but,  on  the  contrary,  seriously 
taxes  the  eliminating  powers  of  the  body  in 
trying  to  get  rid  of  it.  Nothing  else  is  more 
injurious  to  health  of  mind  and  body  than  the 
constant  overloading  of  the  system  with  food 
and  then  dosing  one's  self  with  drugs  to  get 
rid  of  the  bad  effects.  This  very  seriously 
affects  such  organs  as  the  liver  and  the  kid- 
neys. Many  victims  of  this  vicious  drug  habit 
have  a  very  mistaken  idea  that  they  are  assist- 
ing Nature  by  physicking  themselves.  First 
they  abuse  their  bodies  by  overeating,  or  by 
eating  too  rich  and  too  complicated  foods,  and 
then  they  think  they  can  remedy  the  effects  of 
their  indiscretion  and  gorm^andizing  by  resort- 
ing to  drugs.  They  have  not  the  slightest  com- 
prehension of  the  very  serious  results  that  this 
unnatural  forcing  of  the  food  through  the  ali- 
mentary canal  produces.  It  is  hopeless  to  try 
to  get  rid  of  any  evil  by  dickering  with  effects. 
We  must  remove  the  cause  or  continue  to  suf- 
fer for  our  folly. 

If  we  eat  proper  food  in  the  proper  way 
we  shall  never  need  the  assistance  of  drugs  or 
any  unnatural  methods  to  stimulate  digestion. 


204  Keeping  Fit 


Nature  takes  care  of  herself  when  we  treat  her 
fairly.  But  we  cannot  expect  to  commit  all 
sorts  of  sins  against  the  body,  abuse  it  in  in- 
numerable ways,  and  then  expect  to  remedy 
the  evils  by  resorting  to  drugs. 

Doctors  and  druggists  grow  rich  in  trying 
to  correct  the  effects  of  overeating.  The  sur- 
plus earnings  of  many  families,  instead  of  be- 
ing put  away  for  a  "rainy  day"  or  a  needed 
summer  vacation,  find  their  way  to  the  pockets 
of  their  physicians  and  apothecaries.  They 
keep  themselves  physically  and  financially  poor 
by  overeating  and  its  deadly  aftermath.  Their 
efficiency  is  lessened  because  they  are  physi- 
cally crippled;  they  are  handicapped  in  the 
struggle  for  existence  and  their  comfort  and 
happiness  are  destroyed  because  they  contin- 
ually stuff  themselves  with  a  great  variety  of 
foods  which  they  do  not  need. 

The  fact  is,  that  the  system  requires  only 
very  simple  foods.  Man  was  planned  for  a 
simple  life,  and  upon  any  attempt  to  force 
pleasure  by  overeating,  overdrinking,  or  by 
the  gratification  of  other  purely  animal  appe- 
tites he  finds  himself  in  trouble.  Overstimu- 
lation of  any  function  is  followed  by  conges- 


Overeating  205 


tion,  an  increased  demand  for  gratification, 
which  is  never  satisfied,  but  is  always  clamor- 
ing for  more,  only  to  give  greater  pain,  dis- 
satisfaction and  disgust  after  it  has  been 
gratified. 

Is  there  anything  more  pitiable  than  to  see 
a  rich  glutton  hunting  for  some  new  delicacy 
to  stimulate  his  deadened  appetite,  or  for  some 
new  tonic  to  stir  up  his  satiated  nerves,  which 
have  become  benumbed  by  being  overstimu- 
lated? 

Much  abnormal  craving  for  stimulants  is 
due  to  food  poisoning  from  overeating.  Mul- 
titudes of  people  suffer  from  this  form  of  pois- 
oning without  knowing  what  the  trouble  is. 
They  cut  down  their  efficiency,  their  happi- 
ness and  well-being,  and  die  ignorant  of  the 
fact  that  their  deterioration  is  due  to  vicious 
feeding  and  overeating. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  so  few  live  to  old 
age  when  the  majority  keep  their  digestive 
organs  crowded  and  clogged  in  such  an  un- 
natural way,  for  many  years,  that  they  are 
unable  to  perform  their  functions  normally? 

Many  diseases  and  a  great  variety  of  dis- 
tressing physical  and  mental  conditions  are 


206  Keeping  Fit 


greatly  helped  and  often  entirely  cured  by 
fasting.  This  would  indicate  clearly  that 
much  preventable  illness  comes  from  over- 
eating. 

Horace  Fletcher  says  that  we  should  eat 
less  and  chew  more.  He  claims  that  the  more 
completely  we  enjoy  every  mouthful  of  food 
the  more  good  we  will  get  out  of  it,  the  less 
likely  we  will  be  to  injure  ourselves  by  eating 
too  much.  It  will  pay  to  follow  his  advice  not 
only  for  the  sake  of  health,  but  also  from  an 
economical  standpoint,  because  if  we  Fletcher- 
ize  our  food  we  will  feel  better  and  happier 
and  we  will  not  require  more  than  half  as 
much  as  when  we  eat  hurriedly  and  do  not 
take  time  to  masticate  thoroughly. 

Habitual  overeaters  ruin  their  enjoyment 
of  food.  They  do  not  know  what  real  palate 
enjoyment  is,  for  this  can  only  come  from 
simple  living,  eating  slowly,  masticating  thor- 
oughly, and  digesting  perfectly.  Over-indul- 
gence has  taken  away  their  natural  appetite, 
which  alone  can  give  that  hearty,  healthy  zest 
for  food  which  insures  pleasure  in  the  eating, 
and,  most  important  of  all,  which  results  in 
the  increase  of  power  and  efficiency. 


Overeating  207 


In  the  last  analysis,  as  all  power  comes 
from  the  sun,  and  this  power  is  transferred 
into  the  hmnan  being  through  foods  which  the 
sun  produces,  everything — our  success,  our 
happiness,  our  well-being, — depends  upon  our 
digestion.  The  stomach,  therefore,  is  the  piv- 
otal point  of  everything  that  is  worth  while  in 
life.  If  our  digestion  is  weak  or  imperfect, 
everything  in  our  life  suffers  accordingly. 
Everything  is  bright  or  dark  according  to  the 
state  of  our  digestion.  A  gluttonous  dyspep- 
tic is  always  a  pessimist.  A  well-nourished 
man  who  neither  overeats  nor  undereats  is  an 
optimist.  The  pessimist's  horizon  is  always 
dark.  The  optimist's  is  always  bright.  He  is 
the  wise  man  who  "eats  to  live."  The  pessim- 
ist is  the  glutton  who  "lives  to  eat." 

If  thou  well  observe 
The  rule  of  "Not  too  much,"  by  temperance  taught 
In  what  thou  eat'st  and  drink'st,  seeking  from  thence 
Due  nourishment,  not  gluttonous  delight, 
Till  many  years  orer  thy  head  return; 
So  mayst  thou  live  till,  like  ripe  fruit,  thou  drop 
Into  thy  mother's  lap,  or  be  with  ease 
Gathered,  not  harshly  plucked,  for  death  mature. 

— John   Milton. 

If  we  consider  the  ancient  sages,  a  great  part  of  whose 
philosophy  consisted  in  a  temperate  and  abstemious  course  of 


208  Keeping  Fit 


life,  one  would  think  that  the  life  of  a  philosopher  and  the 
life  of  a  man  were  of  two  different  dates;  for  we  find  that 
the  generality  of  these  wise  men  were  nearer  a  hundred  than 
sixty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  their  respective  deaths. 

— Joseph  Addison. 

"Divine  Sobriety,  pleasing  to  God,  the  friend  of  nature,  the 
daughter  of  reason,  the  sister  of  virtue,  the  companion  of 
temperate  living;  modest,  agreeable,  contented  with  little,  or- 
derly and  refined  in  all  her  operations!  From  her,  as  from 
a  root,  spring  life,  health,  cheerfulness,  industry,  studiousness, 
and  all  those  actions  which  are  worthy  of  a  true  and  noble 
soul.  All  laws,  both  divine  and  human,  favor  her.  From  her 
presence  flee,  as  so  many  clouds  from  the  sunshine,  reveling, 
disorder,  gluttony,  excessive  humors,  indispositions,  fevers, 
pains,  and  the  dangers  of  death.  Her  beauty  attracts  every 
noble  mind.  Her  security  promises  to  all  her  followers  a 
graceful  and  enduring  life.  Her  happiness  invites  each  one, 
with  but  little  trouble,  to  the  acquisition  of  her  victories.  Fi- 
nally, she  pledges  herself  to  be  a  kind  and  benevolent  guardian 
of  the  life  of  every  human  being — of  the  rich  as  well  as  of  the 
poor;  of  man  as  of  woman;  of  the  old  as  of  the  young;  to  the 
rich  she  teaches  modesty,  to  the  poor  thrift;  to  man  continence, 
to  woman  chastity;  to  the  old  how  to  guafrd  against  death,  and 
to  the  young  how  to  hope  more  firmly  and  more  securely  for 
length  of  days.  Sobriety  purifies  the  senses,  lightens  the  body, 
quickens  the  intellect,  cheers  the  mind ;  makes  the  memory  tena- 
cious, the  motions  swift,  the  actions  ready  and  prompt. 
Through  her  the  soul,  almost  delivered  of  its  earthly  burden, 
enjoys  to  a  great  extent  its  liberty;  the  vital  spirits  move 
softly  in  the  arteries;  the  blood  courses  through  the  veins;  the 
heat  of  the  body,  always  mild  and  temperate,  produces  mild 
and  temperate  effects;  and,  finally,  all  our  faculties  preserve, 
with  most  beautiful  order,  a  joyous  and  pleasing  harmony. 

"O  most  holy  and  innocent  Sobriety,  the  sole  refreshment  of 
nature,   the  loving  mother   of  human   life,   the   true  medicine 


Overeating  209 


both  of  the  soul  and  of  the  body;  how  much  should  men  praise 
and  thank  thee  for  thy  courteous  gifts !  Thou  givest  them  the 
means  of  preserving  life  in  health,  that  blessing  than  which  it 
did  not  please  God  we  should  have  a  greater  in  this  world — 
life  and  existence,  so  naturally  prized,  so  willingly  guarded  by 
every  living  creature!" 


X 

EATING  FOR  EFFICIENCY 

Our  stomachs 
Will  make  what  is  homely  savory. 

— Shakespeare. 

I  sing  the  sweets  I  know,  the  charms  I  feel. 
My  morning  incense,  and  my  evening  meal. 
The  sweets  of  hasty  pudding. — Joel  Barlow. 

We  may  live  without  poetry,  music,  and  art; 

We  may  live  without  conscience,  and  live  without  heart; 

We  may  live  without  friends;  we  may  live  without  books; 

But  civilized  man  cannot  live  without  cooks. 

He  may  live  without  books, — what  is  knowledge  but  grieving? 

He  may  live  without  hope, — ^what  is  hope  but  deceiving? 

He  may  live  without  love, — ^what  is  passion  but  pining? 

But  where  is  the  man  that  can  live  without  dining? 

— Owen  Meredith. 

"Tell  me  what  thy  food  is  and  I  will  tell 
thee  what  thou  art,"  says  Anthelme  Brillat- 
Savarin. 

Your  ability,  your  accomplishment,  your 
position  in  life,  your  happiness,  are  manufac- 
tured out  of  your  blood.  What  your  brain, 
what  your  ability,  what  your  efficiency  will 
be  depends  largely  upon  the  quality  of  the 

210 


Eating  for  Efficiency  211 

blood,  and  this  in  turn  depends  upon  the  qual- 
ity of  the  material  the  blood  is  made  of — the 
food.  First-class  blood  cannot  be  made  out 
of  second-class  food,  nor  can  first-class  ability 
be  made  out  of  poor  blood. 

One  reason  why  so  many  naturally  strong 
men  do  such  poor,  ineffective,  weak  work  is 
because  of  their  ignorance  of  the  brain  and  its 
needs,  and  of  the  laws  of  eating,  digesting, 
exercising,  and  recreation.  They  try  to  force 
good  work  out  of  mental  faculties  which  are 
exhausted  from  lack  of  proper  and  sufficient 
nourishment. 

Multitudes  in  this  country  are  filling  very 
ordinary  positions  and  doing  very  ordinary 
work  because  they  are  not  properly  nourished 
and  do  not  know  what  kind  of  food  they  re- 
quire to  produce  their  maximum  of  results. 

Most  of  us  go  through  life  victims  of  our 
ignorance.  We  are  not  half  developed.  We 
are  unable  to  utilize  much  of  our  ability,  be- 
cause we  have  not  been  taught  the  laws  of 
health  or  trained  in  their  practice. 

Inasmuch  as  we  are  largely  products  of 
what  we  eat,  we  cannot  afford  not  to  take  pains 
with  that  which  re-creates  our  very  life,  that 


212  Keeping  Fit 


which  makes  the  quality  of  our  blood  and  de- 
termines the  quality  of  our  brain,  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  our  energy,  the  quality  of  our 
courage.  Science  is  beginning  to  discover  that 
thinking  is  not  confined  to  the  brain  alone. 
There  is  more  or  less  intelligence  in  all  of  the 
cells  of  the  body,  which  are  so  intimately  tied 
together,  their  affinity  so  interwoven,  that  man 
is  a  thinking  machine  and  thinks  all  over. 
Each  of  the  billions  of  cells  in  his  body  is 
affected  by  every  thought  that  passes  through 
his  brain,  for  his  intelligence  is  a  product  of 
the  action  of  the  entire  system,  especially  the 
nervous  system ;  and  the  condition  of  the  whole 
nervous  system  is  governed  by  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  the  blood  with  which  it  is  sup- 
plied. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  is  it  not  strange  that 
shrewd,  long-headed  business  men  who  figure 
everything  down  to  the  minutest  fraction,  in 
order  to  increase  their  own  and  their  employ- 
ees' efficiency  in  the  production  and  handling 
of  merchandise,  should  think  so  little  about  the 
quality  of  the  food  which  is  to  generate  their 
own  force,  in  our  brain  power  which  is  to  run 
their  entire  establishments? 


Eating  for  Efficiency  213 

What  would  we  think  of  a  shipbuilder  who 
should  build  the  finest  ship  that  was  ever  made 
and  equip  it  with  the  best  engines  that  were 
ever  produced,  and  plan  everything  for  speed 
and  safety,  and  then  try  to  economize  by  using 
poor,  cheap  coal  in  making  a  speed  test  across 
the  ocean?  In  reality,  this  is  just  about  what 
many  business  men  do. 

How  often  we  see  them  on  the  street,  both 
business  and  professional  men  in  middle  life 
and  later,  who  have  developed  paresis,  or  some 
other  mental  affliction!  When  they  ought  to 
be  in  the  very  prime  of  their  vigor,  they  go 
about  dragging  their  feet  along,  walking  with 
an  unsteady  gait,  because  their  brain  has  lost 
its  co-ordinating  power  through  overwork, 
overstimulation,  overstrain  in  their  mad  race 
for  the  almighty  dollar  or  for  fame,  for  place, 
or  for  power.  They  forget  altogether  that 
the  body  and  brain  which  has  directed  all  their 
wonderful  activities  has  needed  the  same  in- 
telligent care  that  they  have  given  to  the  ships 
they  have  owned,  or  the  big  enterprises  they 
have  conducted  to  success. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  people  who  are  dis- 
appointed with  their  lives,  disappointed  with 


214  Keeping  Fit 


the  mediocrity  of  their  attainment,  and  who 
are  unhappy  and  miserable,  could  immensely 
improve  their  health,  multiply  their  efficiency 
and  their  happiness  by  a  scientific  diet  taken 
in  a  scientific  way.  Everywhere  we  see 
people  in  poor  health,  suffering  agonies  from 
thwarted  ambition,  haunted  by  aspirations 
which  they  are  powerless,  physically  and  men- 
tally, to  realize,  either  because  they  do  not 
know  how  to  care  for  their  bodies,  or  because 
they  stupidly  and  foolishly  neglect  to  do  so. 

On  every  hand  we  see  authors  of  great  abil- 
ity writing  very  ordinary  books,  because  they 
do  not  know  how  to  feed  the  brain,  and  are 
consequently  suffering  from  brain  starvation; 
we  see  artists  with  great  possibilities  who  are 
painting  very  ordinary  pictures,  because  their 
ideals  are  dimmed  and  their  perceptions 
blurred  by  imperfect  mental  nourishment,  due 
to  their  ignorance  of  food  values.  A  great 
many  are  suffering  from  brain  fag  and  chronic 
fatigue  through  brain  starvation,  due  to  im- 
perfect or  insufficient  brain  food. 

People  who  do  things  must  have  force-pro- 
ducing food,  food  which  will  enable  them  to 
generate  great  energy,   forceful  ideas,  orig- 


Eating  for  Efficiency  215 

inality,  resourcefulness,  inventiveness.  Sec- 
ond-quality food  makes  second-quality  blood, 
and  poor  blood  makes  a  poor  brain.  I  know 
brain  workers  who  are  not  getting  half  of  their 
ability  into  their  writings  because  they  eat  food 
which  makes  heavy,  thick,  sluggish  blood.  A 
large  part  of  the  cells  in  the  average  human 
being  are  only  half  alive.  Our  thoughts  are 
muddled,  we  are  not  clear  thinkers,  largely 
because  our  brains  are  clogged  from  vicious 
habits  of  eating  and  drinking. 

Most  people  waste  a  vast  amount  of  nervous 
energy  in  trying  to  take  care  of  substances 
which,  through  lack  of  exercise  in  the  open 
air,  cannot  be  taken  up  into  the  various  tissues 
of  the  body  and  assimilated.  Not  only  is  there 
no  nourishment  derived  from  this  extra  quan- 
tity of  food,  but  the  very  effort  to  utilize  and 
absorb  it  requires  a  great  deal  of  nervous  en- 
ergy which  might  be  employed  for  some  use- 
ful purpose. 

Is  it  any  wonder  we  have  nervous  dyspepsia, 
headache,  liver  trouble,  and  insomnia,  when  we 
take  into  the  system  three  or  four  times  as 
much  fuel  as  the  human  machinery  requires, 
when  we  take  in  enough  to  run  all  of  the  brain 


216  Keeping  Fit 


cells  and  all  of  the  muscle  cells  of  the  body, 
with  practically  no  actual  exercise  except  of 
the  brain  cells  during  the  day? 

Here  we  find  a  man  who  is  a  prodigious 
brain  worker,  who  gets  but  little  exercise  and 
yet  takes  into  his  system  the  amount  and  kind 
of  fuel  which  only  a  hard-working  day  laborer 
could  possibly  take  care  of.  That  is,  he  has 
taken  in  fuel  enough  for  active  exercise  of  the 
five  hundred  different  muscles  of  the  body, 
which  are  practically  not  exercised  at  all,  and 
he  wonders  why  his  system  gets  clogged,  why 
he  feels  heavy  and  dopey,  why  his  mind  is 
clouded,  his  spontaneity  and  enthusiasm  lag  or 
are  gone  altogether.  Men  of  all  kinds  of  oc- 
cupations and  professions  go  into  the  same 
restaurant  and  eat  practically  the  same  kind  of 
food,  when  their  requirements  are  vastly  dif- 
ferent. 

If  we  are  leading  sedentary  lives,  if  we  get 
very  little  exercise,  and  especially  if  we  tend 
to  take  on  flesh,  we  require  a  very  different 
diet  from  that  which  would  be  suited  to  a  phys- 
ically active  person.  If  we  are  engaged  in  a 
mental  occupation,  and  have  very  little  phys- 
ical activity,  we  should  not  eat  largely  of  the 


Eating  for  Efficiency  217 

sort  of  foods  which  feed  the  muscles,  like  a 
heavy  meat  diet.  The  food  that  would  be  nor- 
mal for  a  writer  would  be  abnormal  for  a  day 
laborer;  what  would  be  normal  for  a  healthy 
physique  would  be  abnormal  for  an  unhealthy 
person.  If  you  should  have  kidney  disease, 
your  otherwise  normal  food  would  then  be 
abnormal;  you  would  have  to  select  a  diet  to 
favor  the  kidneys,  which  cannot  extract  the 
poisons  from  the  food  when  their  delicate  lin- 
ing is  inflamed.  You  would  eat  the  things 
that  would  make  the  least  trouble  for  them. 

A  person  who  is  constantly  using  his  mind 
creatively  in  writing,  composing,  planning,  or 
any  other  sort  of  mental  effort,  uses  up  his 
brain  tissues  very  rapidly,  and  he  should  take 
foods  which  can  supply  the  waste  as  quickly 
and  as  perfectly  as  possible.  Brain  workers 
should  eat  foods  which  are  especially  rich  in 
such  mineral  salts  as  phosphorus,  iron,  and  ar- 
senic, in  addition  to  a  certain  amount  of  nitrog- 
enous material,  like  albumen.  The  same  thing 
is  true  of  the  entire  nervous  system. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  brain  workers  re- 
quire comparatively  little  starchy  food,  day 
laborers,  people  who  do  muscular  work,  re- 


218  Keeping  Fit 


quire  a  very  large  amount  of  albuminous  food 
and  considerable  starch.  A  muscular  worker 
requires  the  more  solid,  the  more  substantial 
foods,  containing  a  great  deal  of  combustible 
material  which  give  off  a  large  amount  of 
physical  force. 

Of  what  use  is  it  for  the  brain  worker  to 
take  in  a  great  surplus  of  muscle  food  which 
cannot  possibly  be  used  for  any  other  pur- 
pose than  nourishing  the  muscles?  You  can- 
not make  brain  food  out  of  muscle  food,  or 
compel  a  muscle  diet  to  do  brain  work. 

Again,  one  who  does  light  work  does  not 
require  the  same  sort  of  food  as  one  who  does 
heavy  work.  A  bookkeeper  in  a  store  should 
not  eat  the  same  kind  of  food  as  a  shipper  or 
a  floorwalker.  He  cannot  take  care  of  so 
much  muscle  food.  He  has  no  use  for  it.  He 
does  not  get  sufficient  exercise  to  need  it. 

The  great  food  problem  is  to  supply  the 
right  sort  of  nutrition  to  all  the  different  tis- 
sues in  the  body  and  to  preserve  a  balance  by 
supplying  an  extra  amount  of  nutrition  to 
those  which  are  most  actively  exercised. 

For  example,  a  diet  which  would  maintain 
a  food  balance  in  a  person  on  a  vacation  or  in 


Eating  for  Efficiency  219 

idleness  would  not  aif ord  the  proper  food  when 
he  was  actively  engaged  in  his  vocation,  either 
mental  or  physical.  If  a  person  is  engaged  in 
intense  brain  work  he  is  exhausting  brain  cells 
much  more  rapidly  than  usual,  and  to  supply 
this  destruction  from  the  more  active  brain 
combustion  he  requires  a  much  larger  supply 
of  brain  food. 

If  a  person  engaged  in  a  mental  occupation 
does  not  get  sufficient  brain  food,  there  will 
be  mental  starvation.  The  book  he  writes,  the 
picture  he  paints,  his  work,  whatever  it  is,  will 
show  the  deterioration,  and  before  he  realizes 
it  he  will  be  subject  to  chronic  brain  fag,  due 
to  brain  starvation,  because  the  blood  does  not 
contain  sufficient  phosphorus  and  other  brain 
material  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  brain 
cells.  His  diet  must  contain,  besides  phos- 
phorus and  other  elements  for  generating  men- 
tal energy,  a  certain  amount  of  foods  that 
produce  staying  power;  otherwise  he  will  lack 
stabilit}^;  for,  even  if  the  muscular  system  is 
not  active,  it  must  be  sustained  by  proper 
food. 

Many  people  suffer  from  brain  starvation 
who   yet   eat   a   great   deal   of   food,   but   it 


220  Keeping  Fit 


does  not  supply  brain  nutriment.  Poor  wri- 
ters, artists,  and  students  often  try  to  subsist 
upon  a  bread-and-butter  diet,  and  do  not  real- 
ize that  they  suffer  seriously  from  brain  deteri- 
oration, because  their  diet  does  not  produce 
mental  force.  Needy  students  and  artists  in 
Paris  sometimes  live  almost  entirely  on  stale 
bread  and  tea  and  a  little  milk.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  keep  the  brain  up  to  its  maximum  of 
power  on  such  a  diet.  Naturally  the  produc- 
tions of  those  people  deteriorate,  and  many  of 
them  become  discouraged  and  think  they  are 
failures,  when  they  merely  lack  brain  food.  If 
they  had  adequate  nourishment,  the  quality  of 
their  output  would  be  wonderfully  improved. 
They  do  not  realize  that  the  brain  is  fed  from 
the  blood,  and  the  blood  from  the  food,  and 
that  you  cannot  put  anything  into  the  brain 
which  is  not  in  the  food.  If  there  is  not  fire 
and  force  in  the  food,  there  will  be  none  in  the 
blood,  and  the  brain  is  made  from  the  blood. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  know  mental  workers 
who  gorge  themselves  upon  a  meat  diet  and 
take  heavy  drinks,  like  porter  or  London  stout, 
who  are  able  to  write  but  very  little  of  the  time 
because  their  diet  is  too  heavy  for  their  seden- 


Eating  for  Efficiency  221 

tary  life,  and  also  because  it  does  not  contain 
sufficient  phosphorus  and  other  elements  which 
enter  into  brain  construction  and  generate 
mental  force. 

The  result  in  the  one  case  is  as  bad  as  in  the 
other.  A  heavy  meat  diet  is  no  better  calcu- 
lated to  develop  brain-power  than  is  a  starva- 
tion diet  of  bread  and  tea.  Brain  workers  re- 
quire very  different  food  from  that  suitable 
for  people  who  use  their  muscles,  and  a  hearty 
meat  diet  is  no  better  adapted  to  them  than 
a  light  diet  would  be  to  day  laborers  who  use 
their  muscles  constantly  and  require  muscle- 
building  foods. 

If  our  work  is  peculiarly  mental,  our  diet 
should  be  of  the  sort  specially  calculated  to 
restore  brain  waste  from  broken-down  brain 
cells,  such  as  fish,  milk,  eggs,  fruit,  and  vege- 
tables. Milk  and  eggs  are  especially  good  for 
brain  workers.  Where  there  is  a  very  great 
tendency  to  biliousness  the  yolks  of  the  eggs 
may  be  excluded,  for  the  liver  of  some  people 
does  not  seem  able  to  take  care  of  the  yolks 
of  many  eggs  without  serious  disturbance. 
Sometimes  this  bilious  tendency  can  be  over- 
come by  a  great  deal  of  outdoor  exercise.    The 


222  Keeping  Fit 


liver  is  a  pretty  good  indicator  of  the  condition 
of  the  digestion.  Biliousness  is  one  of  the  first 
danger  signals  which  Nature  puts  up  in  the 
digestive  tract.  As  long  as  the  liver  works 
normally  and  the  digestion  is  clean  and  per- 
fect, the  general  health  will  correspond. 

Many  are  habitually  bilious  and  do  not  real- 
ize the  dangers  of  this  condition.  It  means 
the  presence  of  chronic  poison  in  the  blood  and, 
of  course,  in  the  brain  and  other  tissues,  and 
this  is  one  reason  why  so  many  people  are  dull 
and  stupid  much  of  the  time,  their  thoughts 
muddy,  their  thinking  powers  clouded.  If 
they  should  cut  off  a  rich  diet,  especially  a  meat 
diet,  and  eat  more  vegetables  and  fruit,  they 
would  find  the  biliousness  would  clear  up  and 
the  brain  would  correspond. 

I  know  some  literary  workers  who  get  splen- 
did results  from  eating  the  whites  of  eggs 
alone,  thus  avoiding  any  danger  of  biliousness 
from  the  sulphur  in  the  yolks.  Oysters  and 
all  other  shell  fish  are  good  brain  foods,  be- 
cause they  contain  a  large  amount  of  phos- 
phorus. They  do  not,  however,  constitute  an 
economical  diet,  because  they  contain  so  little 
staying  power,  and  to  some  people  they  are 


Eating  for  Efficiency  223 

indigestible.  Many  who  "carry  everything  to 
extremes"  have  injured  themselves  by  eating 
too  much  fish  and  other  foods  supposed  to 
contain  a  large  amount  of  phosphorus,  because 
of  the  brain-food  fad  which  has  been  so  preva- 
lent. While  fish  contains  elements  which  are 
very  desirable  for  brain  workers,  including 
phosphorus,  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  larger  part 
of  this  substance  does  not  enter  into  the  brain 
structure,  but  is  used  in  the  skeleton  as  phos- 
phate of  lime  in  bone  building.  It  has  been 
found  that  people  who  live  chiefly  upon  a  fish 
diet,  which  is  generally  the  case  in  places  where 
fish  is  cheap  and  meat  is  dear,  are  rather  de- 
ficient mentally  and  physically.  There  is  a 
general  loss  of  muscle  power  and  tone.  Some 
authorities  claim  that  the  hair  of  people  who 
live  largely  upon  a  fish  diet  turns  gray  very 
prematurely.  I  have  noticed  this  tendency  to 
premature  grayness  in  people  who  live  upon 
islands  in  the  sea. 

While  beef  is  essentially  a  muscle  food,  it 
also  contains  some  very  good  brain  food,  pro- 
vided the  brain  worker  takes  a  great  deal  of 
exercise.  Otherwise  the  mind  will  become 
heavy  and  dull  from  an  excess  of  nutriment 


224  Keeping  Fit 


of  which  the  system  cannot  take  care.  Duck, 
goose,  and  mutton  are  good  for  many  brain 
workers.  Food  which  has  not  come  to  matur- 
ity, like  lamb,  veal,  and  young  chickens,  is  not 
of  much  value  as  brain  food.  In  fact,  imma- 
ture fruits  or  vegetables,  or  any  other  products 
which  have  not  come  to  maturity,  are  lacking 
in  brain  nutriment.  Many  brain  workers  find 
that  lean  mutton  chops,  especially  if  eaten  with 
tomatoes  or  lemon  juice  and  salads,  furnish  a 
splendid  nutriment. 

Fat  meats  do  not  contain  very  useful  ele- 
ments, and  to  most  people  are  indigestible. 
For  meat  eaters  venison  is  one  of  the  best 
kinds  of  brain  foods,  especially  for  those  in 
advancing  years. 

Salt  meats  are  practically  useless  as  brain 
foods,  because  the  soluble  nitrogen  and  phos- 
phates are  extracted  by  the  brine,  and  this  is 
the  very  material  which  the  brain  requires. 

Some  of  our  best  authorities  differ  greatly 
as  to  pork.  Some  claim  that  it  should  never 
be  eaten,  both  because  of  its  evil  physical  ef- 
fects, and  especially  because  of  its  deteriorating 
and  demoralizing  effect  upon  the  character. 
Others  claim  that  pork,  particularly  red  pork, 


Eating  for  Efficiency  225 

is  not  only  healthful,  but  is  a  splendid  brain 
food,  especially  in  cold  weather. 

Many  people  who  eat  white  poultry  and 
game  with  comparative  impunity  cannot  eat 
red  meats,  on  account  of  their  being  too  heavy 
and  because  of  the  excess  of  uric  acid  which 
they  produce.  Brain  workers  who  eat  a  large 
amount  of  meat,  especially  red  meats,  and  take 
too  little  exercise,  do  not  throw  off  the  products 
of  the  meat  combustion,  and  the  result  is  an 
accumulation  of  uric  acid  in  their  systems. 

Peas  and  beans  are  remarkably  rich  in  nu- 
triment— much  more  so  than  the  same  relative 
amount  of  beef  steak  or  roast  beef.  They  are 
not  easily  digested,  but  they  are  good  brain 
foods.  They  are  deficient  in  heating  qualities, 
hence  they  are  especially  good  in  hot  weather. 
Lettuce,  cucumbers,  and  raw  vegetable  salads 
are  also  good  for  hot  weather. 

Some  people  duplicate  food  values  too  much. 
For  example,  many  who  live  largely  upon  a 
meat  diet  also  eat  corn  bread,  mush,  wheat, 
oatmeal,  and  other  things  which  are  meat  sub- 
stitutes. 

As  we  require  so  many  different  kinds  of 
food  to  preserve  a  true  physical  and  mental 


226  Keeping  Fit 


balance,  we  may  be  really  starving  to  death 
even  when  we  are  overeating  foods  which  only 
nourish  a  very  few  of  the  tissues.  The  brain, 
for  instance,  might  be  starving,  but  it  could 
not  eat  muscle  food  or  bone  food ;  it  must  have 
brain  food.  There  is  no  doubt  that  many 
nervous  diseases  which  baffle  specialists  are 
due  to  nerve  starvation,  from  lack  of  the 
kind  of  nutrition  which  will  feed  the  tiny  nerve 
cells. 

We  should  bear  in  mind,  then,  that  nerve 
or  brain  food  should  contain  a  large  amount  of 
soluble  phosphates,  which  are  easily  assimil- 
ated; and  that  these  are  found  in  different 
kinds  of  lean  meats,  game,  fish,  shell  fish, 
whites  of  eggs,  etc.;  also  that  muscles  require 
considerable  solid  food,  starchy  food,  such  as 
is  found  in  bread  products,  wheat,  rice,  barley, 
oats,  etc.  These  make  the  muscles  firm  and 
generate  staying  power. 

With  these  general  principles  in  view,  and 
the  fact  that  food  authorities  differ  so  widely, 
each  individual  must  exercise  his  own  best 
judgment  in  choosing  and  regulating  his  diet 
and  find  out  by  experience  and  experiments 
what  foods  are  best  for  his  particular  needs. 


Eating  for  Efficiency  227 

Only  experience  will  show  the  sort  of  food 
the  stomach  will  tolerate  or  that  the  digestive 
organs  will  take  care  of.  This  is  where  many 
physicians  make  mistakes,  in  ordering  the  same 
sort  of  food  for  the  same  kind  of  symptoms  in 
different  patients;  for  what  would  agree  with 
one  person  suffering  from  indigestion  or  dys- 
pepsia might  cause  great  distress  to  a  person 
with  a  different  kind  of  temperament  and  sus- 
ceptibilities. The  advice  of  a  skilled  physi- 
cian is  always  very  materially  modified  by  the 
experience  of  the  patient. 

Many  of  our  best  physicians  claim  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  diseases  and  the  ills  of 
mankind  are  due  fundamentally  to  wrong  eat- 
ing and  to  insufficient  and  improper  digestion. 
"Stunted  and  starved,  physically  and  mental- 
ly, by  wrong  foods  in  early  life,"  would  make 
a  fitting  epitaph  for  many  a  failure  or  medi- 
ocrity. 

For  the  sake  of  economy,  owners  of  men- 
ageries have  repeatedly  put  their  herbivorous 
animals  on  a  diet  of  white  bread  and  water, 
with  the  invariable  result  that  they  soon  fell 
off  in  condition,  and  if  the  regimen  were  per- 
sisted in,  died.    But  when  fed  upon  whole  or 


228  Keeping  Fit 


cracked  wheat,  usually  boiled  but  occasionally 
raw,  they  lived  and  thrived. 

It  is  estimated  that  one-half  of  the  earnings 
of  poor  people  is  spent  for  food,  yet  so  great 
is  their  ignorance  regarding  the  real  nutritive 
needs  of  the  body  that  a  large  part  of  this  ex- 
penditure is  practically  thrown  away.  They 
do  not  eat  for  health  and  efficiency ;  they  know 
nothing  about  the  chemistry  of  foods,  or  what 
kinds  are  necessary  to  nourish  and  sustain  the 
different  tissues  and  organs.  The  result  is 
that  there  is  a  tremendous  economic  waste  in 
their  foodstuffs  alone.  This  is  also  true  of 
people  of  means,  but  they  can  better  afford  the 
waste  and  loss.  Properly  and  intelligently  ex- 
pended, one-fourth  of  the  money  now  paid  out 
for  foodstuffs  by  poor  working  people  would 
yield  more  satisfactory  results  and  give  them 
far  better  and  more  scientific  nutrition  than 
they  have  at  present.  In  fact,  a  very  few  cents 
a  day  spent  with  especial  reference  to  the  ele- 
ments which  build  up  the  various  tissues  would 
do  more  to  keep  people  in  trim,  physically  and 
mentally,  for  health  and  efficiency  than  is  now 
accomplished  by  ten  times  that  amount. 

Poor  people  who  need  to  spend  their  money 


Eating  for  Efficiency  229 

for  the  most  nutritious  food  values  actually 
buy  foodstuffs  containing  the  least.  They  buy 
cheap  fruit,  which  has  been  gathered  green  and 
does  not  perform  the  functions  of  ripe  fruit. 
They  buy  cheap  food  products  of  inferior  qual- 
ity, and  hence  very  deficient  in  nutrition. 
They  buy  adulterated  foods,  which  are  much 
deteriorated  in  quality;  hence  they  are  in  a 
demoralized  condition,  physical,  mental,  and 
moral.  In  fact,  much  of  the  food  they  buy  is 
devitalized  by  its  immaturity,  by  being  only 
half  grown  or  half  developed;  or  after  it  has 
ripened  and  been  harvested,  it  is  devitalized 
by  the  use  of  all  sorts  of  harmful  chemicals 
in  adulterating  it;  so  that,  while  they  often 
think  they  are  buying  the  best,  they  are  really 
buying  what  staggers  their  brain  growth  and 
body  growth  and  makes  great  achievement  for 
them  impossible;  which  tends,  indeed,  to  de- 
generacy, for  badly  nourished  people  are  never 
normal,  efficient,  or  happy. 

It  ought  to  be  impossible  for  any  human 
being  in  the  twentieth  century  to  throw  away 
or  to  dwarf  his  life  through  ignorance  of  how 
to  make  the  most  of  himself.  We  should  have 
health  stations,  diet  schools,  vocational  schools, 


230  Keeping  Fit 


where  all  youths  could  be  studied  scientifically, 
instructed  in  regard  to  the  laws  of  health,  and 
started  on  the  road  along  the  line  of  their  bent 
instead  of,  as  now,  throwing  many  years  away 
and  perhaps  their  whole  lives  through  their 
ignorance  of  hygiene  and  their  mistakes  in 
choosing  a  vocation. 

It  is  true  that  our  state  and  federal  govern- 
ments are  already  doing  a  great  deal  in  efforts 
to  improve  and  conserve  the  health  of  our  peo- 
ple. But  much  more  needs  to  be  done  and  will 
be  done  in  instructing  people  in  regard  to  right 
foods  and  right  living  generally.  What  a 
great  thing  it  would  be,  for  instance,  if  our 
government  maintained,  as  it  some  time  will, 
health  stations  where  great  food  chemists  and 
food  experts  would  teach  people,  especially  the 
poor,  how  to  get  the  maximum  of  food  values 
out  of  the  minimum  expenditure  of  money ! 

Instead  of  buying  foodstuffs  as  they  now  do, 
regardless  of  their  nutritive  values,  at  these 
government  health  stations  or  schools,  poor 
people  would  learn  how  and  where  to  get  the 
kinds  of  food  which  would  supply  their  pecul- 
iar needs,  build  up  and  maintain  their  physical 
integrity,  keep  them  in  the  most  superb  con- 


Eating  for  Efficiency  231 

dition,  mental  and  physical,  for  the  least  ex- 
penditure. They  would  be  taught  what  dif- 
ferent foods  do  in  the  system,  and  what  is  the 
particular  kind  of  work  or  function  that  cer- 
tain kinds  of  nourishment  will  best  fit  an 
individual  to  perform.  For  example,  poor 
people  who  buy  oatmeal,  crackers,  flour, 
Graham  bread,  or  different  kinds  of  meat, 
would  be  taught  what  forces,  what  building 
material,  these  various  foods  will  supply  for 
use  in  the  system,  and  what  offices  their  various 
ingredients  will  perform.  As  it  is,  they  buy  ig- 
norantly,  perhaps  because  certain  members  of 
the  family  like  certain  things,  without  any  ref- 
erence to  their  food  values.  Many  poor  people, 
for  example,  live  largely  upon  salted  meats, 
which  have  very  little  nutritive  value  and  sup- 
ply no  brain  food  whatever.  How  often  do  a 
prospective  mother  and  her  growing  child 
pretty  nearly  live  upon  white  bread  and  but- 
ter. Now,  butter  contains  practically  no  brain 
food,  and  white  bread  but  little,  while  a  grow- 
ing brain,  as  well  as  a  much-used  brain,  re- 
quires a  great  deal  of  nourishment.  The  result 
is  that  multitudes  go  through  life  half  suc- 
cesses, who  might  have  done  things  worth  while 


232  Keeping  Fit 


but  for  the  fact  that  their  brains  were  dwarfed, 
starved  in  childhood  by  the  wrong  kind  of 
food. 

How  many  women  of  poor  families  know 
that  nine-tenths  of  the  food  value  of  the  ordi- 
nary rice  of  commerce  is  lost  in  the  polishing 
and  coating  process  through  which  it  is  put  to 
make  it  more  salable,  because  it  is  more  attract- 
ive ?  Not  only  are  nine-tenths  of  the  nutriment 
taken  out  of  the  rice  by  this  process,  but  people 
pay  more  for  the  product,  because  this  is  what 
all  this  polishing  and  coating  is  done  for.  Food 
experts  should  not  only  instruct  people  in  re- 
gard to  the  deteriorating  processes  through 
which  many  food  products  are  put  in  order 
to  enhance  their  appearance  and  make  an  ex- 
cuse for  putting  up  their  price,  but  they  should 
also  show  them  how  they  can  get  the  real  arti- 
cles at  less  cost.  Consumers  in  the  North,  for 
example,  could  be  shown  how  a  few  families 
could  group  together  and  procure  unpolished 
rice  for  five  dollars  a  hundred  pounds  directly 
from  the  rice  plantations,  thus  securing  a  much 
cheaper  article  and  yet  many  times  more  valu- 
able as  a  food  than  polished  rice.  They  would 
also  show  them  what  a  dear  price  they  are  pay- 


Eating  for  Efficiency  233 

ing  for  the  fancy  packing  of  certain  articles 
of  food  like  oatmeal  and  other  "prepared" 
breakfast  foods.  Very  few  poor  people  real- 
ize that  they  could  get  the  best  oatmeal,  for 
that  which  is  put  up  in  fancy  packages.  How 
many,  too,  are  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  there 
is  more  real  nutriment  in  a  penny's  worth  of 
peas  or  beans  than  in  an  ordinary  beef  steak ! 

The  time  will  come  when  the  government 
will  make  a  scientific  study  of  food  and  food 
conditions  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  with 
a  view  of  assisting  people  to  increase  their  effi- 
ciency and  to  prolong  their  lives,  rather  than 
to  cut  down  both,  as  they  now  do,  because  of 
their  ignorance  of  the  effects  of  different  kinds 
of  foods  and  drinks  upon  the  body. 

Every  child  not  only  has  a  right  to  be  well 
born,  but  also  to  be  well  reared — physically, 
mentally,  and  morally ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
State  to  see  that  her  children  shall  not  grow  up 
dwarfs  when  they  might  be  giants,  or  weak- 
lings when  they  might  be  superb  men  and 
women.  Just  think  what  it  would  mean  if 
every  human  being  were  scientifically  reared 
from  infancy  to  maturity!  It  ought  to  be  im- 
possible, in  a  great,  prosperous  country  like 


234  Keeping  Fit 


ours,  for  children  to  grow  up  in  vile,  unhealthy 
slums,  in  a  semi-starved  condition,  fed  upon 
foods  which  can  only  produce  human  scrubs 
instead  of  the  great  oaks  they  might  become. 

The  principal  concern  of  the  government 
should  be  the  protection  of  humanity,  the  con- 
serving of  the  health  and  the  welfare  of  the 
people.  We  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  con- 
servation of  the  forests  and  the  water-power, 
the  coal  and  iron  mines,  the  oil  wells ;  but  these 
sink  into  insignificance  in  comparison  with 
human  conservation,  the  conservation  of  hu- 
man health,  human  energy,  human  possibilities, 
human  life. 

Oh,  better  no  doubt  is  a  dinner  of  herbs, 
When  seasoned  by  love,  which  no  rancor  disturbs, 
And  sweetened  by  all  that  is  sweetest  in  life. 
Than  turbot,  bisque,  ortolans,  eaten  in  strife! 
But  if,  out  of  humor,  and  hungry,  alone, 
A  man  should  sit  down  to  dinner,  each  one 
Of  the  dishes  of  which  the  cook  chooses  to  spoil 
With  a  horrible  mixture  of  garlic  and  oil, 
The  chances  are  ten  against  one,  I  must  own. 
He  gets  up  as  ill-tempered  as  when  he  sat  down. 

— Owen  Meredith. 


XI 

FOOD    FADS   AND    HABITS 

It  will  be  hard  to  know  the  ways  of  death,  unless  we  search 
out  and  discover  the  seat  or  house,  or  rather  den,  of  death. 

— Francis  Bacon. 

He  that  will  have  a  cake  out  of  the  wheat  must  needs  tarry 
the  grinding. 

Have  I  not  tarried? 
Ay,  the  grinding;  but  you  must  tarry  the  bolting. 

Have  I  not  tarried? 
Ay,  the  bolting;  but  you  must  tarry  the  leavening. 

Still  have  I  tarried. 
Ay,  to  the  leavening;  but  here's  yet  in  the  word  "hereafter" 
the  kneading,  the  making  of  the  cake,  the  heating  of  the  oven 
and  the  baking:  nay,  you  must  stay  the  cooling,  too,  or  you 
may  chance  to  burn  your  lips. — Troilus  and  Cressida. 

Wouldst  thou  enjoy  a  long  life,  a  healthy  body,  and  a  vigor- 
ous mind,  and  be  acquainted  also  with  the  wonderful  works  of 
God,  labor  in  the  first  place  to  bring  thy  appetite  to  reason. 

— Benjamin  Franklin. 

Pitch  upon  that  course  of  life  which  is  the  most  excellent, 
and  custom  will  render  it  the  most  delightful. — Pythagoras. 

"One  Graham  cracker  eaten  in  my  way," 
said  an  enthusiastic  dietician,  "will  give  one 
more  pleasure  than  a  full-course  dinner  eaten 
at  a  palatial  hotel  in  the  usual  way." 

235 


236  Keeping  Fit 


"Well,"  said  Dr.  Lewis,  a  little  skeptical, 
"let  me  see  you  eat  a  cracker  in  your  way." 

Having  obtained  a  cracker,  the  other  ad- 
justed himself  carefully  in  a  very  comfortable 
chair.  "You  may  think  this  is  a  very  simple 
affair,"  said  he,  "but  I  am  going  to  show  you 
the  ripest  wisdom  gleaned  from  my  forty  years 
of  observation  and  thought  about  health." 

"Very  good  as  to  theory,  but  I  am  impatient 
to  see  how  you  begin  the  magic  eating." 

"Don't  be  in  a  hurry!  People  should  not 
begin  to  eat  in  haste.  All  my  life  I  have 
thought  about  the  laws  of  health,  and  I  have 
reached  the  deliberate  conclusion  that  the  man- 
ner in  which  I  am  about  to  eat  this  cracker 
is  the  most  important  discovery  I  have  ever 
made." 

"But,"  exclaimed  his  auditor,  "you  have  told 
me  that  same  thing  before!  What  I  want  to 
know  is,  when  are  you  going  to  begin  on  that 
cracker?" 

"Never,  unless  you  let  me  begin  in  quiet  and 
peace.  One  can't  eat  properly  by  jerk."  Then, 
after  a  few  moments'  quiet,  he  took  a  small 
bite  and  began  to  chew,  and  went  on  chewing, 
and  chewing,  and  chewing. 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  237 

"Wouldn't  you  like  a  little  drink?" 

"Never;  I  do  not  think  of  such  a  thing  as 
drinking  a  mouthful,  even,  while  I  am  eating." 

"If  that's  the  way  you  do  things,"  said  Dr. 
Lewis,  "I  want  to  see  how  long  it  takes  you 
to  eat  one  cracker.  Very  thoroughly  done," 
he  added,  when  his  watch  recorded  the  neces- 
sary time  as  six  minutes;  "now  how  did  you 
like  it?" 

"Nothing  sweeter  ever  entered  my  mouth. 
Let  me  add  that  any  plain,  simple  nutriment, 
such  as  brown  crackers,  Graham  or  whole- 
wheat bread,  cracked  wheat,  oatmeal  cakes, 
etc.,  when  masticated  thoroughly  and  ground 
down  to  a  fine  paste,  will  be  found  to  be  the 
most  delicious  food  in  the  world.  If  one  bolts 
his  food,  it  is  pleasant  to  have  condiments 
spread  over  the  surface;  the  palate  is  thus 
tickled  as  the  food  slips  down;  but  if  one  eats 
with  deliberate,  thorough  mastication,  the 
plainest  food  is  the  sweetest.  If,  after  a  mo- 
tion or  two  of  your  j  aws,  you  swallow  a  mouth- 
ful of  some  liquid,  you  will  find  sponge  cake 
one  of  the  sweetest  of  foods ;  but  if  you  masti- 
cate what  you  eat  thoroughly,  without  drinking 
at  the  same  time,  one  mouthful  of  good  bread 


238  Keeping  Fit 


and  butter  will  give  more  pleasure  than  ten 
of  sponge  cake." 

Give  this  more  than  passing  thought;  think 
of  it  every  time  you  are  tempted  to  hurry  in 
eating.  The  human  race  is  not  a  race  to  be 
run  at  meals;  if  it  were,  it  would  only  lead  to 
lives  of  invalidism  or  early  graves.  When  you 
have  but  little  time  for  dinner  make  your  din- 
ner a  lunch.  Eat  less  in  proportion  as  your 
time  for  eating  is  short,  and  what  you  thus  eat 
will  do 'you  far  more  good  than  a  load  of  pro- 
vender dumped  into  your  stomach  like  a  load 
of  potatoes  or  turnips  into  a  cellar. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  criminal  in  Tibet  who 
was  condemned  for  many  years  to  lie  on  a  bed 
of  sharp  spikes,  which  stood  in  the  only  place 
in  his  dungeon  where  he  could  stretch  his  limbs. 
His  skin  became  so  calloused  and  his  body  so 
accustomed  to  the  spikes  that  when  his  sen- 
tence expired  he  could  not  sleep  on  an  ordinary 
bed.    He  had  to  have  a  spike  bed  made! 

A  habit  may  be  a  great  enemy  or  a  great 
friend,  and  man  has  been  defined  as  "a  bundle 
of  habits."  The  marvelous  power  of  the  human 
body  to  adapt  itself  to  the  habit  of  entertain- 
ing even  its  enemies  is  well  illustrated  by  the 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  239 

amount  of  poisons  which  those  who  have  ac- 
quired drug  habits  can  take  into  their  systems 
without  kilhng  themselves.  "The  Confessions 
of  De  Quincey,"  the  noted  opium  eater,  fur- 
nishes one  of  the  most  remarkable  examples  of 
this  kind.  A  habitual  tippler  can  drink  more 
and  more  alcohol  without  becoming  intoxi- 
cated, and  often  he  is  unconscious  that  his 
vicious  habit  is  slowly  sapping  his  vitality, 
destroying  the  delicate  cells  of  his  brain, 
and  steadily  robbing  him  of  power  and  effi- 
ciency. 

"Excuse  me,  sir,"  said  a  German,  in  a  Berlin 
restaurant,  after  noting  the  calm,  deliberate 
manner  in  which  a  stranger  was  eating  his 
lunch,  "I  see  that  you  are  an  American,  and, 
as  I  happen  to  speak  English,  I  cannot  for- 
bear to  compliment  you  upon  your  excep- 
tional moderation  at  table." 

"I  don't  know  that  I  quite  understand  you," 
said  the  American. 

"Have  you  a  thin  skin?  That  is  to  say,  are 
you  sensitive  to  criticisms  of  your  country  or 
your  countrymen?" 

"Not  particularly,  but  still  I  do  not  quite 
catch  your  meaning." 


240  Keeping  Fit 


"Well,  then,  let  me  tell  you  that  during  six 
years'  residence  in  America  I  saw  nothing 
which  surprised  me  so  much  as  the  way  in 
which  Yankees  eat  and  drink.  Why,  I  really 
think  it  is  worth  an  admission  fee  to  stand  at 
the  end  of  a  dining-room  and  see  a  hundred 
Yankees  at  dinner.  Each  one  has  something 
to  eat  in  one  hand,  and  something  to  drink  in 
the  other.  When  the  food  hand  goes  up,  the 
drink  hand  is  down;  and,  when  the  food  hand 
goes  down,  the  drink  hand  goes  up.  It  al- 
ways reminded  me  of  one  of  those  walking 
beams  on  a  steamboat, — when  one  end  is  up  the 
other  end  is  down.  Now,  sir,  I  think  that  is 
the  reason  that  the  American  people  are  such 
dyspeptics.  Why,  I  believe  that,  in  a  world's 
exhibition  of  dyspeptics,  your  country  could 
show  more  than  all  the  rest  of  the  world." 

Can  any  one  deny  the  applicability  of  these 
criticisms  to  many  of  our  American  restaurant 
patrons? 

The  body  can  habituate  itself  to  endure 
overdoses  of  fatigue  poisoning,  just  as  it  can 
to  endure  overdoses  of  opium  and  alcohol. 
Trainers  in  Marathon  races,  for  example,  have 
found  that  the  rimners  can  become  so  accus- 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  241 

tomed  to  such  poison  by  forcing  themselves 
each  day  to  exercise  a  little  more  and  more 
beyond  the  fatigue  point  that  they  can  stand 
a  very  large  amount  of  it,  whereas  the  con- 
testants who  have  not  become  thus  habituated 
would  succumb  during  the  final  contest.  Many 
men  in  various  occupations  and  professions  ac- 
custom themselves  to  such  noxious  influences 
by  forcing  their  activities  by  sheer  will-power 
to  go  on  long  after  the  point  of  natural  ex- 
haustion has  been  reached.  But  after  a  while 
this  poison  accumulates  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  cause  very  serious  physical  results.  The  re- 
sisting power  of  the  body  has  been  so  reduced 
that  it  becomes  an  easy  prey  to  the  develop- 
ment of  disease. 

Few  realize  how  much  habit  has  to  do  with 
what  they  eat  and  drink.  Those,  for  example, 
who  are  brought  up  on  the  farm  and  eat  pork 
every  day,  almost  from  infancy,  form  a  pork, 
especially  a  salt-pork,  habit.  This  is  very  in- 
jurious, because  pork  does  not  supply  the 
needs  of  the  organs  they  use  most.  The  result 
is  that  there  is  semi-starvation  going  on  in 
some  of  the  tissues  of  the  body  which  are  over- 
worked,  overexercised,   and  underfed,   while 


242  Keeping  Fit 


others  are  underworked  and  underexercised,  as 
well  as  overfed. 

The  articles  of  food  and  the  manner  of  cook- 
ing which  happen  to  be  popular  in  certain 
sections  of  the  country  have  a  powerful  in- 
fluence on  the  eating  habits  of  the  people,  and 
those  who  move  away  carry  their  habits  with 
them  into  totally  different  conditions  of  life 
and  work.  New  England  people,  for  example, 
who  are  accustomed  to  baked  beans  and  brown 
bread,  think  that  nothing  else  can  quite  take 
their  place,  no  matter  where  they  may  happen 
to  live  or  what  kind  of  work  they  may  be  do- 
ing. This  is  true  of  many  other  articles  of 
food.  I  know  professional  men  in  New  York, 
natives  of  New  England,  where  pie  is  one  of 
the  chief  articles  of  diet,  and  they  still  crave 
it  and  eat  it,  too,  in  large  quantities,  although 
they  know  it  is  unfitted  to  furnish  the  mental 
force  required  in  their  vocations ;  that,  in  fact, 
it  is  positively  injurious  to  them.  Some  of 
them  believe  that  they  could  not  get  along 
without  mince  pie,  although  they  confess  that 
they  often  suffer  from  indigestion  after  eat- 
ing it. 

Most   disastrous   results   sometimes   follow 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  243 

from  clinging  to  such  habits,  as  when  young 
men  who  come  from  a  section  where  they  were 
accustomed  to  eat  pork  and  beans,  and  other 
heavy  foods  daily,  which  agreed  with  them 
when  they  were  leading  vigorous,  active  lives 
on  the  farm,  but  which  nearly  ruined  their 
health  when  they  went  to  the  city  to  study  law, 
medicine,  or  some  other  profession,  or  to  en- 
gage in  some  sedentary  occupation  where  they 
had  very  little  physical  exercise.  The  food 
they  had  become  accustomed  to  was  fitted  for 
one  engaged  in  severe  muscular  work,  but 
totally  unfitted  for  a  brain- worker.  They  did 
not  know  that  the  latter  requires  a  different 
quality  of  blood  and  must  use  food  materials 
different  from  those  demanded  by  farmers. 

If  the  brain  is  heavily  charged  with  mus- 
cular diet,  with  an  excess  of  meat,  it  will  be 
heavy  and  dull.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mus- 
cles, which  have  very  little  exercise,  cannot  use 
up  the  surplus  of  muscular  elements  which 
come  from  a  heavy  diet  like  pork  and  beans. 
Consequently  there  is  an  excess  of  muscle- 
creating  material  floating  in  the  blood  of  the 
brain- worker  who  has  very  little  physical  exer- 
cise but  continues  to  live  on  a  diet  of  this  sort. 


244  Keeping  Fit 


This  excess  cannot  do  any  good  anywhere,  as 
the  muscles  do  not  need  it,  and  the  brain  and 
the  nerves  cannot  use  it ;  so  it  clogs  the  system, 
poisons  the  brain,  so  that  the  young  man  from 
the  country  cripples  his  career  from  ignorance 
of  the  chemistry  of  foods  and  by  clinging  to 
dietetic  habits  formed  on  the  farm.  The 
change  from  an  outdoor  to  a  sedentary  life, 
aggravated  by  eating  unsuitable  food,  soon  be- 
gins to  tell  on  his  constitution  and  he  gradu- 
ally breaks  down.  But  he  cannot  understand 
why,  because,  as  he  says,  his  work  is  not  nearly 
as  hard  as  it  used  to  be  on  the  farm! 

It  is  pitiable  to  see  a  strong,  well  meaning, 
ambitious  man,  who  is  making  a  supreme  effort 
to  succeed  in  life,  crippled,  cramped,  handi- 
capped, his  plans  dwarfed  or  wholly  ruined 
just  because  he  does  not  know  what  kind  of 
food  is  suited  to  his  condition.  Many  are  thus 
rendered  miserable  all  their  lives,  and  their 
power  of  achievement  immeasurably  lessened, 
by  living  on  a  diet  not  suited  to  their  manner 
of  life.  Men  and  women  who  are  well  edu- 
cated in  other  respects,  who  know  foreign 
languages,  advanced  mathematics,  astronomy, 
and   other   sciences,    are    in   many   instances 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  245 

utterly  ignorant  of  one  of  the  most  important 
things  of  life, — the  composition  and  chemistry 
of  foods,  the  things  on  which  health,  happiness 
and  achievement  so  largely  depend.  Not  one 
young  person  in  a  hundred — perhaps  not  one 
in  a  thousand, — has  the  slightest  knowledge  of 
the  properties  of  what  he  eats.  He  does  not 
know  what  part  it  plays  in  his  physical  econ- 
omy, what  tissues  it  builds  up,  supports,  or  in- 
jures. He  eats  because  he  is  hungry;  that  is 
all  he  knows  about  the  matter, — he  is  simply 
governed  by  appetite  and  habit.  Yet  it  would 
be  worth  everything  to  him  to  know  just  the 
best  things  to  eat, — to  know  how  to  make  out 
a  dietary  programme  which  would  be  best 
adapted,  all  things  considered,  to  the  life  which 
he  intends  to  live. 

When  we  eat  we  bring  to  the  body  all  of  the 
elements  which  enter  in  any  way  into  its  struc- 
ture. The  object  of  food  is  growth,  repair,  a 
new  supply  of  physical,  mental,  and  nervous 
energy.  Instead  of  these  processes  of  supply- 
ing, repairing,  reconstructing,  and  recreating, 
being  performed  as  they  should  be,  scientifi- 
cally, in  the  majority  of  cases  they  are  con- 
ducted in  a  most  haphazard  way.    Most  of  us 


246  Keeping  Fit 


are  guided  wholly  by  our  appetites  instead  of 
our  intelligence.  We  eat  what  tastes  good,  if 
we  can  get  it,  no  matter  whether  the  body  re- 
quires it  or  not.  Instead  of  applying  the  most 
intelligent  discrimination  to  our  choice  of  food 
we  simply  take  what  happens  to  be  convenient 
or  what  we  crave,  and  then  we  wonder  why 
our  machinery  does  not  run  noiselessly  and 
harmoniously,  why  it  does  not  produce  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  efficiency  and  hap- 
piness. We  might  just  as  well  expect  a  cot- 
ton mill  to  turn  out  splendid  cloth  when  it  is 
fed  with  wool  and  shoddy  instead  of  pure  cot- 
ton. The  body  should  be  fed  with  a  view  to 
what  it  is  to  produce,  fed  with  a  scientific 
knowledge  of  what  the  food  is  to  accomplish. 
From  babyhood  a  child  is  supposed  to 
be  hungry  when  it  cries  from  any  unknown 
cause.  The  real  trouble  may  be  that  it  has 
lain  too  long  in  one  position,  that  it  is  too  warm 
or  too  cold,  that  a  pin  is  out  of  place,  that  it  is 
afraid  of  something,  that  it  is  merely  fretful, 
or  even  that  it  has  already  eaten  too  much,  with 
a  touch  of  colic  as  the  result.  For  these  and 
a  dozen  other  mysterious  annoyances,  there  is 
one    "universal    remedy," — eating.      If    the 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  247 

mother  does  not  think  of  it  and  resort  to  it  at 
once,  a  "kindhearted"  nurse  or  aunt  or  grand- 
mother or  visitor  almost  surely  will,  and  will 
protest,  "Why  don't  you  give  that  child  some- 
thing to  eat?  My  mother  never  let  her  chil- 
dren cry  that  way."  Even  when  the  cause  of 
the  crying  is  plainly  manifest,  as  a  cut  finger,  a 
bleeding  nose,  a  splinter,  etc.,  a  piece  of  candy, 
a  cookie,  or  something  of  the  kind  is  considered 
part  of  the  cure. 

"It  is  astonishing,  indeed,"  says  Andrew 
Combe,  "with  what  exclusiveness  of  under- 
standing eating  is  regarded  even  by  intelligent 
parents  as  the  grand  solatium  or  panacea  for 
all  the  pains  and  troubles  which  afflict  the 
young.  If  a  child  falls  over  a  stone  and 
bruises  its  leg,  its  cries  are  immediately  ar- 
rested by  a  sugar-biscuit  stuffed  into  its  open 
mouth.  If  its  temper  is  discomposed  by  the 
loss  of  a  toy,  it  is  forthwith  soothed  by  an  offer 
of  sweetmeats,  the  ultimate  effect  of  which  is  to 
excite  colicky  pains  in  its  bowels,  which  are 
worse  than  the  original  evil,  and  for  which,  in 
their  turn,  it  is  presented  with  nice  peppermint 
drops,  or  some  other  equally  pleasant  antidote. 
Because  the  mouth  is  open  when  the  child  is 


248  Keeping  Fit 


crying,  and  the  mouth  leads  to  the  stomach, 
parents  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  open 
for  the  purpose  of  being  filled,  and  proceed  to 
cram  it  accordingly,  forgetting  that  the  mouth 
leads  also  to  the  windpipe,  and  may  be  open 
for  the  admission  of  air  to  the  lungs. 

"To  confound  crying  and  the  expression  of 
pain  with  the  cravings  of  hunger  is  far  from 
being  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  child.  If 
food  be  given  when  it  wishes  only  to  be  relieved 
of  suffering,  the  offending  cause  is  left  in  activ- 
ity, and  its  effects  are  aggravated  by  the  addi- 
tional ill-timed  distention  of  its  stomach.  But 
so  far  is  this  important  truth  from  being  suffi- 
ciently impressed  upon  the  minds  of  parents 
and  nurses  that  nothing  is  more  common,  when 
an  infant  refuses  to  swallow  more,  but  still 
continues  to  cry,  than  to  toss  it  in  the  nurse's 
arms,  as  if  on  purpose  to  shake  down  its  food, 
and  then  resume  the  feeding.  In  such  at- 
tempts, it  is  only  too  true  that  the  persever- 
ance of  the  nurse  often  gets  the  better  of  the 
child,  and  forces  it  at  length  to  receive  the  food 
which  it  really  loathes. 

"Many  mothers  imagine  that  milk  is  so 
bland  a  fluid  that  it  is  impossible  for  an  infant 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  249 

to  take  too  much  of  it;  but  the  fallacy  of  the 
notion  is  exposed  when  we  recollect  that  milk 
is  coagulated  the  moment  it  reaches  the  stom- 
ach and  that  the  real  subject  of  digestion  is 
curd, —  a  substance  not  quite  so  light  as  milk." 

Many  think  that  the  appetite  will  crave  what 
is  best  for  the  body.  But  we  must  remember 
that  our  habits  are  not  easily  changed,  and  we 
crave  the  thing  we  are  in  the  habit  of  eating, 
not  because  it  is  the  right  food  for  us,  but  be- 
cause the  cells  of  the  body  have  become  accus- 
tomed to  it  and  call  for  their  habitual  nutri- 
ment. I  do  not  claim  that  one  should  not  be 
guided  at  all  by  his  likes  and  dislikes,  his  appe- 
tite, but  I  do  say  that  one  by  continued  use 
may  learn  to  eat,  and  even  like,  that  which  may 
be  very  injurious  and  which  may  be  totally 
unsuited  to  the  work  he  is  doing  or  to  his  physi- 
cal condition. 

It  is  not  always  safe,  therefore,  to  follow 
one's  inclination  in  choosing  a  diet  because  of 
the  dominating  part  habit  often  plays  in  these 
matters.  What  the  bodily  cells  have  been  ac- 
customed to  for  years  they  will  continue  to 
crave,  notwithstanding  you  have  completely 
changed  your  life  habits,  so  that  the  salt  pork 


250  '         Keeping  Fit 


and  potatoes  or  other  diet  on  which  you  were 
brought  up  no  longer  furnishes  the  nutrition 
which  your  vocation  demands.  The  mere  fact 
that  your  tissues  still  call  for  the  food  which 
you  had  when  leading  an  active,  outdoor  life, 
in  which  you  required  a  great  deal  of  muscle 
food  and  fat  food  to  supply  the  bodily  com- 
bustion, is  no  scientific  reason  why  you  should 
continue  this  diet  under  absolutely  changed 
conditions.  Your  manner  of  life  regulates 
your  food  needs.  The  bodily  organs  or  tissues 
which  are  most  active  should  have  nutrition 
which  corresponds  to  their  needs.  Where 
there  is  most  activity,  there  also  will  be  the 
greatest  exhaustion  of  force,  the  greatest 
breaking  down  of  tissue  cells.  After  you  have 
decided  upon  your  vocation  your  diet  should 
be  changed  to  correspond  to  that  which  will 
give  you  the  greatest  efficiency  possible  in  your 
new  environment. 

In  some  cases  it  is  dangerous  to  be  guided 
by  what  the  palate  longs  for,  which  may  be 
merely  what  we  have  been  accustomed  to  eat. 
When  the  body  is  in  a  diseased  condition,  or 
not  normal,  we  often  have  an  intense  craving 
for  things  that  would  be  most  injurious  to  us. 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  251 

Many  people  with  diabetes,  for  instance,  have 
a  great  longing  for  all  sorts  of  starchy  foods, 
especially  potatoes,  sugar,  and  other  sweet 
things,  which  actually  aggravate  the  disease. 
Others,  suffering  from  rheumatism  or  gout, 
often  have  such  a  craving  for  oranges  and  other 
fruits  not  adapted  to  their  condition  that  it  is 
a  real  hardship  for  them  to  give  them  up ;  yet 
they  suffer  if  they  partake  of  them.  Sufferers 
from  kidney  troubles  are  often  very  fond  of 
ham,  salt  pork,  and  other  salt  meats,  and  salt 
fish,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  salt  contained 
in  this  food  is  very  injurious  to  the  delicate 
structure  of  the  kidneys,  and  that  they  will  be 
much  better  off  not  to  eat  meat  of  any  kind. 
The  fact  that  the  kidneys,  the  liver,  or  some 
other  organ,  may  have  become  degenerated  or 
in  some  way  diseased  does  not  change  the  de- 
sire engendered  by  the  life  habit  of  eating  cer- 
tain foods.  The  appetite,  the  desire,  remains 
even  when  those  particular  foods  have  become 
inimical  to  some  diseased  organ,  or  to  some  ab- 
normal condition  of  the  body. 

In  other  words,  the  appetite,  which,  in  long- 
ing for  things  under  normal  conditions,  would 
probably  indicate  the  healthfulness  of  the  par- 


252  Keeping  Fit 

ticular  food  desired,  is  a  very  different  thing 
under  the  modified  conditions  which  a  complete 
change  in  the  general  habits  of  life,  physical 
weakness,  or  disease  may  bring  about. 

When  certain  organs  are  diseased  it  is  neces- 
sary sometimes  to  reduce  food  almost  to  the 
point  of  starvation  of  the  individual,  so  that  he 
may  barely  continue  to  exist  until  Nature  has 
had  an  opportunity  to  make  amends,  which  she 
cannot  do  unless  the  factory  is  shut  down  dur- 
ing repairs. 

One  may  have  an  ulcer  in  the  stomach,  for 
example,  which  might  never  heal  if  he  con- 
tinued to  eat  his  regular  meals  in  the  usual 
way.  In  order  to  give  Nature  a  chance  to  heal 
it,  it  might  be  necessary  for  him  to  take  to  his 
bed  and  to  swallow  as  little  liquid  nutriment 
as  possible,  and  to  have  this  passed  through  and 
beyond  the  stomach  by  a  tube,  thus  giving  the 
diseased  organ  a  chance  to  rest  and  heal  the 
ulcer ;  whereas,  if  he  should  insist  upon  having 
his  usual  food,  it  might  cost  him  his  life. 
Further,  there  are  some  tissues  which  must  be 
starved  at  times  in  order  to  stamp  out  a  disease 
developing  somewhere  else.  If  they  are  con- 
stantly  fed   such   diseases   may   continue   to 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  253 

increase.  In  serious  liver  troubles  it  is  some- 
times necessary  to  cut  off  from  some  other  part 
of  the  body  nutriment  which  would  be  impera- 
tively needed  there  but  for  the  harm  it  might 
do  to  the  diseased  organ. 

The  most  intelligent  knowledge  of  the  sys- 
tem and  the  greatest  wisdom  are  required  to 
maintain  the  physiological  balance  as  far  as 
possible,  through  wise  feeding.  Yet  it  is  a  curi- 
ous fact  that,  when  men  are  working  hardest, 
when  their  lives  are  the  most  strenuous,  when 
they  are  extremely  methodical  about  their  busi- 
ness and  professional  affairs,  and  when  they 
should  be  most  careful  and  methodical  about 
their  foods,  they  follow  the  most  helter-skelter 
eating  habits.  They  treat  their  body  and 
brain,  the  very  sources  of  their  achievement, 
any  way  which  is  convenient  to  them, — without 
method,  system,  or  the  most  ordinary  common 
sense.  There  are  thousands  in  this  country 
who  would  give  fabulous  sums  if  they  could 
be  insured  a  few  years  of  extension  to  their 
lives,  who  are  taking  a  short  cut  to  their 
graves,  not  alone  by  their  imprudent  eating 
habits,  but  also  by  their  manner  of  living ;  their 
grinding,  rasping,  wearing  business  methods 


254  Keeping  Fit 


and  habits.  They  would  give  anything  for 
the  assurance  of  a  little  more  life,  and  yet  they 
actually  throw  away  years  of  their  lives  by  the 
constant  violation  of  the  fundamental  laws  of 
their  being. 

The  world  is  full  of  people  who  are  not  get- 
ting one-fourth  of  their  ability  into  their  life 
work  because  of  bad  habits,  especially  bad  eat- 
ing habits,  which  neutralize  and  vitiate  their 
efforts.  Many  are  paying  forfeit  with  their 
lives.  More  people  are  killed  by  imprudent 
diet,  by  the  overeating  habit,  the  habit  of  eat- 
ing too  rich  and  too  great  a  variety  of  foods 
at  the  same  time,  and  by  other  vicious  eating 
habits,  than  by  famine,  war,  or  any  other  cause. 

The  food-bolting  habit,  for  instance,  so  com- 
mon among  Americans,  especially  American 
men,  is  fatal  to  digestion,  health,  and  longevity. 
There  is  nothing  that  will  discourage  digestion 
more.  The  stomach  was  not  intended  by 
Nature  to  perform  the  office  of  the  teeth.  Its 
linings  are  too  delicate  to  do  the  work  of  a 
crushing  machine.  The  food  should  be  very 
finely  masticated  before  it  enters  the  stomach. 
The  man  who  made  Fletcherizing  a  cult  says 
that  we  really  digest  only  what  we  taste.     The 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  255 

food  that  we  bolt  is  never  properly  tasted,  and 
is  very  imperfectly  digested.  Consequently,  it 
leaves  poison  all  along  its  trail.  We  do  not 
taste  bread  or  other  food  in  the  mouth  until 
it  is  moistened  and  dissolved  with  saliva.  Then 
a  chemical  change  takes  place ;  the  starches  be- 
gin to  turn  to  sugar,  and  the  food  tastes  sweet 
and  delicious.  It  is  also  in  a  fit  condition  for 
the  action  of  the  digestive  juices  when  it  passes 
into  the  stomach. 

Some  people  think  that  the  softer  kinds  of 
food,  like  bread  and  cooked  cereals,  don't  re- 
quire so  much  chewing  as  the  more  solid,  like 
meat.  This  is  a  great  mistake,  for  the  oppo- 
site is  the  case.  It  is  not  nearly  as  essential 
for  meats  to  be  thoroughly  masticated  as  the 
others,  because  their  digestion  does  not  begin 
in  the  mouth  as  in  the  case  of  the  starchy  foods. 
It  is,  therefore,  infinitely  safer  to  swallow  great 
chunks  of  beefsteak  than  to  bolt  a  dish  of  oat- 
meal and  cream  or  any  food  of  a  starchy 
nature. 

Inasmuch  as  the  digestion  of  all  starchy 
foods  begins  in  the  mouth,  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  they  be  perfectly  masticated. 
As  soon  as  the  starch  comes  in  contact  with  the 


256  Keeping  Fit 


saliva  in  the  mouth  it  begins  to  change  into 
sugar.  If,  however,  the  food  is  bolted,  there 
is  time  for  the  secretion  of  but  very  little  saliva. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  opportunity  for  the 
food  to  become  thoroughly  mixed  with  this  di- 
gestive fluid  before  it  passes  into  the  stomach, 
and  consequently  we  get  all  the  ills  attendant 
upon  imperfect  digestion. 

Improper  food  habits  often  cause  certain 
parts  of  the  body  to  be  abnormally  developed 
from  too  much  nourishment,  while  other  parts 
may  be  dwarfed  from  the  habitual  lack  of  the 
elements  calculated  to  build  up  their  specific 
cells.  Physicians  tell  us  that  some  persons 
gradually  and  unknowingly  keep  themselves 
in  a  semi-starved  condition,  perhaps  from  some 
food  fad,  some  idea  that  they  should  only  eat 
certain  kinds  of  food;  and  the  result  is  that, 
while  some  of  their  tissues  may  be  fed,  others 
remain  in  a  state  of  semi-starvation.  People 
who  are  carried  away  with  food  fads,  almost 
invariably  overemphasize  the  value  of  some 
particular  food  or  foods  which  nourish  only 
certain  tissues  of  the  body,  while  they  alto- 
gether lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  others  may  be 
deteriorating  for  lack  of  nourishment. 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  2.57 

I  know  a  man  who  not  only  refuses  to  eat 
flesh  of  any  kind,  but  who  excludes  from  his 
diet  all  animal  products,  like  milk,  eggs,  butter, 
cheese,  etc.  The  result  is  that  his  brain-power 
has  deteriorated  very  materially.  He  is  not 
the  forceful,  brainy  man  he  used  to  be ;  he  does 
not  carry  the  same  weight  in  his  community 
as  he  did  formerly.  Everybody  knows  that 
his  efforts  are  feeble  and  that  he  has  failed 
mentally  and  physically.  There  is  evident 
starvation  going  on  in  many  of  the  tissues  in 
his  body,  perhaps  because  they  do  not  get 
sufficient  albumen,  one  of  the  great  tissue- 
builders. 

People  who  from  force  of  habit  eat  the  same 
thing  year  in  and  year  out,  who  have  a  great 
lack  of  variety  in  their  food,  do  not  realize  that 
the  physical  balance  which  comes  from  the  per- 
fect nutrition  of  all  the  tissues  is  imperative, 
and  that  it  is  largely  dependent  on  eating  the 
right  kinds  of  food.  A  one-sided  diet  throws 
the  whole  system  out  of  balance  and  very 
greatly  cuts  down  the  protective  resistance  of 
the  body  against  disease. 

Take,  for  example,  a  strict  vegetarian  who 
has  incipient  tuberculosis,  where  the  lung  tis- 


258  Keeping  Fit 


sue  is  breaking  down  rapidly.  This  condition 
calls  for  a  great  deal  of  food  rich  in  albumen 
and  other  body-building  material,  which  is  not 
sufficiently  supplied  by  the  customary  vege- 
table diet.  Vegetarians  in  this  state  often 
pick  up  wonderfully  when  fed  upon  a  sufficient 
variety  of  food,  including  meat,  eggs,  milk,  and 
other  substances  which  are  rich  in  easily  di- 
gested albumen.  There  is  not  enough  of  this 
building  material  in  the  usual  strictly  vege- 
tarian diet  to  compensate  for  the  rapid  destruc- 
tion of  the  lung  tissue  in  tuberculosis,  a  disease 
which  is  comparatively  rare  in  properly  nour- 
ished people  who  lead  moral  lives. 

There  is  always  a  serious  lack  somewhere 
in  the  system  from  a  one-sided  diet,  a  lack 
which  is  often  fatal  to  physical  balance,  mental 
symmetry,  and  the  health  of  the  body  as  a 
whole.  For  instance,  if  nutritive  salts  are 
lacking,  we  often  get  serious  nervous  and  other 
troubles.  We  have  illustrations  of  this  in 
some  of  the  great  famines  of  the  world,  es- 
pecially the  Irish  famines.  When  the  po- 
tato crops  failed  the  Irish  people,  who  were 
largely  dependent  upon  this  vegetable  for 
their  food,  were  obliged  to  substitute  salt  meat. 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  259 

without  vegetables,  and  they  were  soon  cursed 
with  scurvy.  The  result  of  the  lack  of  the 
necessary  blood  salts,  such  as  potash  and  lime 
found  in  vegetables,  was  the  weakening  of  the 
tiny  blood  vessels  of  the  body  so  that  they 
broke  and  the  blood  ran  into  the  flesh,  making 
the  muscles  very  painful  and  stiff.  The  gums 
became  badly  swollen  and  turned  black;  the 
teeth  loosened  and  fell  out,  the  breath  became 
poisoned,  and  the  poor  sufferers  became  so 
weak  that  they  fainted  at  the  least  exertion 
and  great  numbers  died. 

Most  people  are  so  constituted  that  they  run 
their  fads  into  the  ground.  They  carry  every- 
thing to  extremes.  Since  Mr.  Fletcher  made 
his  famous  claim  that  the  majority  of  us  eat 
two  or  three  times  as  much  as  nature  requires 
and  that  we  would  be  infinitely  better  off,  more 
efficient,  healthier,  and  happier  on  a  much  more 
limited  quantity,  many  people  have  carried  the 
principle  very  much  too  far  and  are  not  eating 
nearly  enough.  Now,  extremes  are  nearly  al- 
ways dangerous.  As  a  rule,  the  middle  of  the 
road  is  the  best  course.  The  amount  of  food 
necessary  depends  upon  the  individual  and  the 
nature  of  his  work.    Many  a  full-grown,  hard- 


260  Keeping  Fit 


working  person  can  live  comfortably  and  be 
well  nourished  on  an  amount  on  which  another 
would  starve.  Some  of  the  greatest  achievers 
in  the  world's  history  have  been  large  eaters. 
Take  Theodore  Roosevelt,  for  example.  He 
often  takes  from  six  to  eight  glasses  of  milk 
at  a  single  meal,  in  addition  to  eating  freely 
of  other  foods.  William  Jennings  Bryan,  our 
Secretary  of  State,  is  also  a  liberal  eater.  Yet 
both  of  these  men  are  temperate  in  their  habits, 
and  never  overstep  the  line  of  good  sense  or 
good  taste  in  eating  or  drinking.  Mr.  Bryan 
takes  no  alcoholic  drinks  of  any  kind.  His 
substitution  of  grape  juice  for  wines  at  state 
dinners  after  he  became  Secretary  of  State  ex- 
posed him  to  a  great  deal  of  ridicule,  but  he 
sturdily  stuck  to  his  principle. 

Undereaters  and  extremists  generally  seem 
to  forget  that  we  can  accustom  the  body  by 
habit  to  do  without  many  things  which  are 
necessary.  After  a  while  these  habits  become 
so  strong  that  the  body  ceases  to  call  for  what 
it  really  needs.  It  is  possible  to  go  without 
drinking  water  long  enough  to  accustom  the 
tissues  to  worry  along  without  it,  but  this  is 
no  sign  that  it  is  good  for  us.     A  handful  of 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  261 

dates  often  makes  a  satisfying  meal  for  a 
Bedouin  Arab.  So  trained  is  he  to  abstemi- 
ousness by  the  rigors  of  his  desert  life  that,  if 
he  is  invited  to  have  a  drink  of  water,  he  will 
probably  say:  "Thank  you,  but  I  drank  yes- 
terday." 

Habit,  as  we  all  know,  is  a  good  servant,  but 
a  poor  master.  I  know  a  man  who  lives  upon 
nuts,  grapes,  and  some  other  fruits  and  light 
vegetables  who  says  he  does  not  desire  any- 
thing else.  But  he  is  anemic,  thin  as  a  rail,  and 
does  not  look  at  all  like  a  healthy  man.  He 
always  has  some  food  fad,  which,  strangely 
enough,  is  usually  lacking  in  albumen,  the 
great  body-builder. 

There  is  only  one  article  of  diet,  milk,  which 
can  furnish  anything  like  the  variety  of  sub- 
stances necessary  to  maintain  the  integrity  of 
the  body  with  physical  and  mental  poise.  But 
even  this  well-nigh  perfect  food  is  not  alone 
sufficient  for  any  healthy  adult,  nor  should  it 
be  taken  in  unlimited  quantities,  at  any  and  all 
times. 

"Each  of  my  brothers  had  a  calf  as  a  present, 
when  I  was  a  boy,"  said  Dio  Lewis;  "my  little 
sister  had  one,  and  so  had  I.     The  others  were 


262  Keeping  Fit 


satisfied  with  our  hired  man's  assurance  that 
twice  a  day  was  often  enough  to  feed  them ;  but 
I  knew  better,  and  made  such  a  fuss  about  their 
cruel  starvation  of  my  poor  little  Samuel  that 
*the  powers  that  be'  ordained  that  he  should 
be  fed  just  as  I  should  direct.  I  determined 
to  show  them  what's  what,  and  to  make  sure 
I  took  personal  charge  of  the  feeding,  giving 
Sam  all  he  wanted  about  once  in  two  hours. 

"But  at  the  end  of  six  weeks  how  the  rest 
of  'em  did  crow  over  me !  It  was  true,  as  they 
said,  that  at  the  beginning  of  my  sausage- 
stuffing  system,  as  they  called  it,  Samuel  was 
the  biggest  calf  in  the  lot ;  but,  at  the  end  of  the 
six  weeks,  what  a  fall  was  there,  my  country- 
men! Even  my  smallest  brother's  little  Fan 
could  give  Samuel  odds.  To  cap  the  climax, 
when  we  untied  and  turned  them  all  out  to- 
gether, little  spotted  Fan  went  at  my  Sam, 
upon  whom  my  hopes  had  centered  as  the  bully 
of  the  yard,  and  walloped  him  in  just  no  time. 
For  a  long  while  they  wouldn't  stop  plaguing 
me  about  that  good-for-nothing  calf.  My  lit- 
tle sister,  who  could  hardly  speak  plain,  asked 
me  one  morning  at  the  table,  "How's  'e  p'ophet 
Sam'el  'is  mornin'?" 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  263 

Many  people,  from  force  of  habit  like 
things  which  produce  poor  and  impure  blood, 
whereas  the  production  of  the  purest  possible 
blood,  regardless  of  our  likes  and  dislikes, 
should  guide  us  in  the  choice  of  foods.  It  is 
easy  to  form  habits  while  one  is  growing  up 
which  become  permanent  and  which  some  think 
necessary  to  their  well-being;  but  it  does  not 
follow,  because  a  certain  thing  has  become 
habitual,  that  it  is  good  for  us.  A  man  might 
as  well  say  that  smoking  is  good  for  him  be- 
cause he  has  indulged  in  it  from  boyhood  and 
because  he  likes  it.  It  is  as  easy  to  form  habits 
which  are  injurious  as  the  opposite.  The  cele- 
brated Casper  Hauser,  who  was  incarcerated 
in  a  dungeon  when  a  boy,  became  so  accus- 
tomed to  the  darkness  and  stillness  of  his  dun- 
geon that  when,  at  the  end  of  many  years,  he 
was  freed,  the  noise  of  the  upper  world  almost 
distracted  him.  The  light  pained  his  eyes,  the 
beautiful  things  which  made  others  happy,  the 
food  and  luxuries  which  gave  pleasure  to  his 
fellow-men,  all  gave  him  pain.  Long  habit  had 
so  accustomed  all  his  faculties  to  the  gloom  of 
prison  life,  to  his  crust  and  water,  that  he 
begged  to  be  taken  back  to  his  dungeon. 


264  Keeping  Fit 


No  one  should  allow  his  earlier  habits  to 
govern  him  in  mature  life.  When  a  person  is 
able  to  think  for  himself  he  should  think  in- 
telligently. He  should  learn  what  elements 
in  food  are  best. suited  to  the  work  he  is  doing 
and  to  his  manner  of  living.  He  should  ap- 
ply the  same  care  in  the  choice  of  his  food  that 
he  does  in  the  choice  of  a  career,  or  in  any  of 
the  other  important  things  in  life. 

There  is  no  need  to  go  to  extremes.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  weigh  everything  we  eat,  or 
to  restrict  ourselves  to  grains,  fruits,  nuts,  and 
vegetables,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  kinds  of 
food.  All  we  need  do  is  to  use  our  reason 
in  selecting  the  quantity  and  quality  of  what 
we  consume.  The  palate,  be  it  remembered, 
is  not  a  reliable  or  intelligent  guide.  Those 
who  allow  it  to  dictate  their  choice  frequently 
eat  indigestible,  innutritions  dishes,  and  often 
eat  to  a  surfeit.  Eat  rationally.  Vary  your 
food.  Keep  in  view  the  object  of  eating,  the 
repair  of  waste  tissues,  the  nourishment  of  the 
body  in  all  its  parts.  It  is  a  waste  of  time  and 
effort,  an  abuse  of  the  stomach,  to  partake  of 
dishes  that  "taste  good"  but  which  give  the 
body  little  or  no  aliment  after  the  labor  of  di- 
gestion. 


Food  Fads  and  Habits  265 

Perfect  health  comes  from  a  perfect  balance 
of  nutriment  in  the  system,  which  just  sup- 
plies the  demand,  which  gives  neither  too  much 
nor  too  little,  and  which  feeds  all  the  tissues 
and  starves  none.  This  perfect  balance  is 
never  attained  by  the  faddist  or  the  one  whose 
choice  of  food  is  governed  by  habit. 

Against  diseases  known,   the   strongest  fence 
Is  the  defensive  virtue,  abstinence. 

— Benjamin  Franklin. 

This  is  the  excellent  foppery  of  the  world  that,  when  we 
are  sick  in  fortune, — often  the  surfeit  of  our  own  behavior, — we 
make  guilty  of  our  disasters  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars; 
as  if  we  were  villains  by  necessity,  fools  by  heavenly  compul- 
sion; knaves,  thieves,  and  teachers,  by  spherical  predominance; 
drunkards,  liars,  and  adulterers,  by  an  enforced  obedience  of 
planetary  influence;  and  all  that  we  are  evil  in,  by  a  divine 
thrusting  on:  an  admirable  evasion  of  man,  to  lay  his  goatish 
disposition  to  the  charge  of  a  star. — Shakespeare. 


XII 

FATIGUE  POISON 

Bone  and  Skin,  two  millers  thin, 
Would  starve  us  all,  or  near  it; 

But  be  it  known  to  Skin  and  Bone 
That  Flesh  and  Blood  can't  bear  it. 

— ^JoHN  Byron. 

A  worm  is  in  the  bud  of  youth, 

And  at  the  root  of  age. — ^William  Cowpeb. 

"Candidly,  Doctor,"  said  a  patient  just  beginning  to  recover 
from  a  severe  attack  of  jaundice,  "do  you  think  that  life  is 
really  worth  living?" 

"W-e-1-1,"  replied  the  physician,  "that  depends  a  great  deal 
upon  the  liver." 

It  has  been  well  said  that  a  man's  creed  or  view  of  life  de- 
pends largely  upon  nis  bile  duct.  If  that  is  in  good  condition, 
he  is  an  optimist;  otherwise,  he  is  a  pessimist. 

It  is  equally  true  that,  if  the  man  as  a  whole  is  well  nour- 
ished and  well  rested,  he  is  an  optimistic  giant  to  the  full  limit 
of  his  ability;  while  if  he  is  poorly  fed  and  insufficiently  re- 
freshed by  sound  sleep,  he  is,  at  least  for  the  time,  a  more  or 
less  pessimistic  weakling. 

Nerve  specialists  say  that  a  great  many 
suicides  are  the  direct  result  of  exhausting  the 
brain  cells. 

266 


Fatigue  Poison  267 

Not  long  ago  a  boy  in  New  York  was  driven 
to  suicide  by  overtaxing  his  brain  in  an  effort 
to  pass  difficult  examinations  in  school.  He 
was  ambitious  and  was  obliged  to  do  errands 
before  and  after  school  in  order  to  buy  his 
clothing,  and  then  he  would  sit  up  and  study 
half  the  night.  When  the  examinations  came 
around  he  was  in  no  physical  condition  to  take 
them.  His  mentality  was  utterly  depleted. 
He  became  despondent,  melancholy,  and  sev- 
eral times  tried  to  blow  out  his  brains  with  a 
revolver;  a  last  desperate  attempt  succeeded. 

Many  cases  of  this  kind  might  be  cited  where 
boys  and  girls  all  over  the  country  are  driven 
to  suicide,  or  permanently  injure  their  health 
by  overstudy,  excessive  brain  stimulation. 

Who  can  estimate  the  tragedies  which  have 
resulted  from  exhausted  brain  and  nerve  cells, 
— from  the  poison  of  fatigue? 

How  often  one  picks  up  a  newspaper  and 
reads  of  horrible  accidents  due  most  frequently 
to  overtaxed  nerves  and  overworked  faculties ! 
Quite  recently  a  terrible  railroad  disaster,  in 
which  many  lives  were  lost,  was  traced  to  the 
fact  that  the  engineer  had  been  compelled  to 
work  continuously  for  some  thirty-six  hours 


268  Keeping  Fit 


under  great  tension.  He  had  previously 
earned  a  high  reputation  for  carefulness  and 
strict  attention  to  duty;  and  yet,  on  this  occa- 
sion, the  poison  of  fatigue  had  so  stupefied  his 
faculties  that  he  disregarded  the  danger  signal, 
thus  causing  the  loss  of  many  precious  lives. 

We  all  know  that  our  ability  deteriorates, 
that  our  efficiency  is  cut  down  when  we  are 
mentally  exhausted.  Our  courage,  our  in- 
itiative, our  perceptions,  our  power  of  fine 
discrimination  and  appreciation,  as  well  as  our 
observation  and  our  hearing  are  impaired,  be- 
cause the  blood  and  other  secretions  are  loaded 
with  poison  which  benumbs  the  faculties. 

No  man  can  do  his  best  work  when  he  is 
obliged  to  spur  on  his  jaded  faculties;  when 
he  feels  his  mentality  lagging  and  is  compelled 
to  force  it  to  yield  by  pressure.  There  must 
be  spontaneity  in  the  thought  or  there  will  be 
no  vividness  of  imagination,  no  certainty  of 
memory. 

I  know  a  business  man  who  has  tremendous 
brain  power,  but  much  of  his  work  is  exceed- 
ingly ordinary  and  tame,  because  he  does  it 
when  his  brain  is  jaded  and  fagged.  He  is 
constantly  working  under  a  great  strain.     The 


Fatigue  Poison  269 

result  is  that  his  judgment,  which  is  very  re- 
markable when  he  is  rested,  is  much  of  the  time 
poor;  and  he  is  frequently  irritated  because  he 
makes  foolish,  unaccountable  blunders. 

We  have  probably  all  noticed  that  when  we 
are  very  brain- weary  our  judgment  is  not  as 
good  as  usual;  our  ability  to  discriminate  is 
lessened,  our  sensibilities  are  dulled,  and  the 
mind,  generally,  loses  its  grip.  We  cannot 
think  so  clearly  and  we  say  our  brains  are 
muddled.  In  other  words,  the  brain  is  not  so 
sharp  when  we  are  exhausted  after  a  day's 
hard  work  as  in  the  morning,  when  we  are 
rested  after  a  good  night's  sleep. 

We  feel  fresh  and  vigorous  in  the  morning, 
because  during  the  long  rest  of  the  night 
nature  has  been  repairing  the  different  tissues 
in  the  body,  and  the  poisons  generated  in  the 
system  throughout  the  day  have  been  gradu- 
ally eliminated  during  sleep.  The  blood  is 
purer  in  the  morning,  the  brain  clearer. 

The  ordinary  breathing  of  the  day-time  is 
not  sufficient  to  cleanse  the  blood  of  the  ac- 
cumulation of  effete  matter  which  the  tissues 
have  thrown  off  into  the  circulation — the  poi- 
son   generated    by    the    thinking,    planning. 


270  Keeping  Fit 


worrying,  and  anxiety  of  the  average  daily 
routine.  But  at  night  Nature  puts  us  under 
her  beneficent  anesthetic  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
the  debris,  the  poisons,  which  have  accumu- 
lated in  the  system  during  the  hours  of  activ- 
ity. If  we  have  been  working  very  hard,  been 
under  great  worry,  strain,  or  pressure,  this 
dead  matter  poisons  the  blood  to  an  unusual 
degree  with  carbonic  acid,  which  is  the  princi- 
pal poison  of  the  body.  A  large  amount  of 
this  carbonic  acid  so  vitiates  the  blood  that  the 
brain  becomes  dazed  and  cannot  act  normally. 

Now,  the  function  of  sleep  is  to  throw  off  the 
body's  poisons  through  its  sewers,  the  veins, 
and  by  way  of  the  pores,  the  lungs,  kidneys, 
etc.  The  heart  pumps  the  body's  sewage  up 
to  the  twelve  or  fourteen  hundred  square  feet 
of  lung  surface  with  great  force,  and  the  blood 
is  purified  when  we  breathe  in  fresh  air  sur- 
charged with  oxygen  upon  the  other  side  of 
this  relatively  immense  lung  surface. 

During  inhalation  and  exhalation  a  quick 
change  takes  place,  the  poison  going  out  of  the 
system  through  the  tiny  openings  in  this  great 
lung  membrane  and  the  lifegiving  oxygen 
rushing  through  it  into  the  circulation. 


Fatigue  Poison  271 


When  the  blood  goes  out  from  one  side  of 
the  heart  into  the  arteries,  it  is  bright  red ;  and 
it  is  forced  all  over  the  system,  even  to  the 
extremities.  When  it  comes  back  it  gathers 
enough  broken-down  cells,  ashes  from  tissue 
combustion,  and  other  effete  matter  to  make  it 
blue  and  foul  in  the  veins.  After  this  sewage 
is  pumped  to  the  lungs,  it  becomes  pure;  we 
might  say  it  becomes  bright  red  blood  in  the 
arteries,  and  is  forced  all  over  the  system,  giv- 
ing new  life  to  the  different  tissues  in  the 
body, — the  brain  tissue,  the  nerve  tissue,  the 
bone  tissue,  and  the  tissues  of  the  different 
secretive  organs. 

Each  of  the  different  kinds  of  cell  life  is 
bathed  in  this  stream,  and  absorbs  from  it  what 
it  needs.  The  brain  cells  draw  out  the  phos- 
phates and  other  nourishment  for  their  food, 
the  nerves  that  which  feeds  the  nerves;  the 
bone,  the  phosphate  of  lime,  or  whatever  else 
it  wants  to  build  itself  up.  Each  of  the  tis- 
sues absorbs  what  will  best  feed  and  renew  it. 

Many  people  close  their  doors  and  windows 
before  going  to  sleep,  lest  they  take  cold,  and 
if  it  were  not  for  the  cracks  under  the  doors 
and  windows,  that  allow  the  escape  of  the 


272  Keeping  Fit 


poison  which  they  have  been  exhaling,  they 
would  be  dead  in  the  morning.  One  will  throw 
off  poison  enough  in  a  night  to  kill  a  dozen 
men.  Yet  most  people  are  absolutely  igno- 
rant of  this  real  danger  and  go  to  sleep  nightly 
in  a  room  without  fresh  air. 

Many  business  men  have  noticed  in  their  em- 
ployees what  they  call  a  mid-afternoon  let-up 
in  effort,  a  loss  of  energy  and  a  tendency  to 
take  things  easy.  Recent  investigation  in  the 
study  of  efficiency  has  shown  that  this  is  due  to 
vitiated  air  which  poisons  the  blood  and  the 
brain  and  brings  about  that  dazed,  sleepy  feel- 
ing which  seems  to  overcome  effort,  even  in 
the  most  industrious  and  conscientious  workers. 

Several  large  New  York  concerns  have  en- 
tirely eliminated  this  trouble  by  new  and  better 
ventilating  systems.  One  of  them  has  made  a 
report,  showing  that  the  improved  ventilation 
has  increased  the  efficiency  of  their  entire  work- 
ing force  from  two  o'clock  on  through  the 
remainder  of  the  afternoon  by  about  twenty- 
five  per  cent. 

The  school  laws  in  most  of  the  states  not 
only  demand  a  certain  number  of  cubic  feet  of 
air  for  every  pupil,  but  also  demand  that  this 


Fatigue  Poison  273 

air  shall  be  continually  renewed  with  fresh  air 
from  the  outside. 

Life  is  in  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  and  few  of 
us  realize  how  quickly  any  considerable  num- 
ber of  people  will  vitiate  the  air,  even  in  large 
spaces. 

I  know  men  who  are  so  active,  and  who 
lead  such  strenuous  lives  that  they  are  per- 
petually tired.  Their  fatigue  accumulates. 
They  rarely  rest  enough  to  allow  the  recreative 
forces  to  catch  up  with  the  destructive  pro- 
cesses. Their  brain  cells  are  in  a  constant 
state  of  exhaustion,  and  the  result  is  medi- 
ocrity in  work  instead  of  great  efficiency,  of 
which  they  are  really  capable. 

There  must  be  a  freshness,  a  vigor,  a  buoy- 
ancy in  the  physical  life,  or  the  brain  will  not 
give  up  its  secret. 

Students  and  brain  workers  often  resort  to 
all  sorts  of  expedients  to  force  good  work  out 
of  jaded  brains, — such  as  drinking  strong  cof- 
fee or  other  stimulants, — but  they  do  this  at  a 
cost  which  endangers  health,  and  which,  if 
persisted  in,  is  likely  to  cause  insanity  or 
paresis. 

We  cannot  cheat  Nature  without  paying  the 


274  Keeping  Fit 


penalty.  We  may  force  the  brain  to  do  a  little 
extra  work  one  day,  but  we  get  the  protest  in 
reaction  the  next  day.  The  brain  will  always 
do  its  maximum  of  work  during  the  year  if  it 
is  only  required  to  give  out  each  day  the  force 
which  is  generated  in  that  day,  without  draw- 
ing upon  its  reserve.  Who  overdraws  from 
this  daily  supply  faces  mental  bankruptcy. 

In  his  laboratory,  the  physiologist  stimulates 
a  bit  of  muscle,  which  has  been  removed  from 
the  body,  and  it  will  continue  to  contract  for 
some  time,  until  finally  there  is  no  response. 
Bathe  this  same  exhausted  muscle  in  a  warm 
solution,  and  it  will  react  with  considerable 
force,  thus  indicating  that  what  caused  the 
fatigue  was  the  presence  of  poison  resulting 
from  chemical  change.  When  this  was  re- 
moved, the  muscle  responded,  the  cause  of  the 
fatigue  being  removed.  When  the  muscle 
reaches  a  point  where  it  will  respond  no  longer, 
we  have  absolute  muscular  exhaustion. 

"Fatigue  is  a  chemical  fact.  An  exhausted 
person  is  literally  and  actually  a  poisoned  per- 
son, poisoned  by  the  body's  waste  products. 
Fatigue  is  the  signal  which  gives  warning  that 
the  limit  of  capacity  is  approaching.     Exhaus- 


Fatigue  Poison  275 


tion  follows  when  the  signal  is  disregarded  and 
the  organism  is  pushed  to  further  exertions." 

The  brain  is  capable  of  great  efficiency  when 
all  the  physical  standards  are  up,  when  all  the 
tissues  are  wholesomely  nourished ;  but,  the  mo- 
ment there  is  an  accumulation  of  poisonous  ma- 
terial in  the  blood,  efficiency  is  immediately 
lowered.  This  explains  why  the  greatest  crea- 
tive work  should  be  done  in  the  early  hours 
of  the  day. 

Some  people  think  they  can  do  better  work 
at  night  than  in  the  daytime,  but  if  they  do  so 
it  is  probably  the  result  of  perverted  habit, — 
except,  possibly,  in  cases  of  people  who  are  suf- 
fering from  chronic  insomnia  and  those  who 
rest  a  great  deal  of  the  time  during  the  day, 
as  in  the  case  of  writers,  who  think  they  can 
write  best  late  at  night.  But  the  principle  is 
always  the  same.  The  brain  is  at  its  highest 
efficiency  point  when  completely  rested,  re- 
created and  properly  nourished. 

Thousands  have  formed  fatal  drug  habits 
while  trying  to  work  at  night,  after  having 
worked  all  day,  so  determined  are  they  to 
squeeze  a  little  more  work  out  of  their  already 
exhausted  brains. 


276  Keeping  Fit 


Some  time  ago  Dr.  Crowthers  of  Walnut 
Lodge,  Massachusetts,  read  before  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Editors'  Association  a  paper  on 
"Sundown  Journalism,"  in  the  course  of  which 
he  said  that  very  often  he  can  designate  the 
special  character  of  dope  used  by  the  writer 
who  tries  to  whip  his  exhausted  brain  to  action, 
just  as  a  widely  informed  reader  can  pick  out 
the  dyspepsia  or  gout  by  which  a  production 
is  marred. 

By  "Sundown  Journalism"  Dr.  Crowthers 
means  the  writing  of  those  who  attempt  to  do 
journalistic  work  at  night.  The  name  is  bor- 
rowed from  the  evening  schools  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  work  during  the  day.  In  many 
sections  these  institutions  are  called  sundown 
colleges. 

Of  course  there  are  various  kinds  of  work 
that  have  to  be  done  at  night.  We  could  not 
have  our  daily  newspapers,  for  instance,  with 
the  latest  world  news,  on  our  breakfast  tables 
every  morning,  if  there  were  not  a  small  army 
of  men  at  work  nightly  in  the  offices  of  every 
great  newspaper.  But  these  men  must  get 
sufficient  sleep  in  the  daytime  to  keep  brain 
and  body  in  repair.     Night  work  with  them  is 


Fatigue  Poison  277 

a  necessity  and  they  must  make  up  for  its  wear 
and  tear  as  best  they  can. 

Many,  however,  work  at  night  because  they 
are  too  mean  and  stingy  to  give  themselves 
proper  rest  and  recreation.  They  grind  their 
brains  just  as  they  grind  their  employees. 
They  look  upon  every  bit  of  work  done  out- 
side of  their  regular  hours  as  so  much  saved. 
They  think  they  are  so  much  ahead,  when  in 
reality  thev  are  usually  so  much  behind. 

I  know  men  who  actually  abuse  themselves 
by  night  work,  Sunday  work,  holiday  work, 
and  lunch-hour  work,  under  the  guise  of  duty, 
when  in  reality  they  are  led  by  their  cupidity, 
their  selfish,  grasping  desire  to  let  nothing  get 
away  from  them. 

There  is,  perhaps,  nothing  else  which  re- 
sponds so  quickly  to  lowered  mentality  as  the 
memory,  and  this  is  often  impaired  by  the 
poison  of  fatigue  from  overwork.  A  good 
memory  implies  a  certain  plus  quality  in  the 
physique,  lots  of  vital  energy.  The  memory 
will  not  respond  freslily  in  a  tired,  fatigued 
brain.  If  you  begin  to  run  down  physically, 
you  will  find  it  is  more  difficult  for  you  to  re- 
member facts,  figures,  dates,  and  names.   This 


278  Keeping  Fit 


is  often  a  sort  of  a  thermometer  to  indicate  a 
lowering  of  vitality.  The  memory  faculties 
must  have  a  certain  grasp  and  bite  in  order  to 
seize  and  hold  facts,  to  retain  and  reproduce 
them.  When  you  feel  your  memory  flagging, 
it  is  time  to  replenish  your  vitality. 

Sometimes  orators  temporarily  paralyze 
their  memories  by  physical  exhaustion.  A 
noted  lecturer  in  England  said:  "When  travel- 
ing expenses  were  the  only  thing  I  received 
for  my  lectures,  I  used  to  walk  to  the  places 
of  their  delivery.  On  my  walk  from  Birming- 
ham to  Worcester,  a  distance  of  twenty-six 
miles,  it  was  my  custom  to  recite  on  the  way 
portions  of  my  intended  address.  In  the  first 
part  of  my  walk  my  voice  was  clear  and  my 
memory  good,  but  toward  the  end  I  could 
scarcely  articulate  or  remember  the  thread  of 
my  discourse.  If  I  lectured  the  same  evening, 
as  sometimes  happened,  I  spoke  without  con- 
nection, and  produced  little  effect  upon  my 
audience.  The  reason  was  that  I  had  ex- 
hausted my  strength  and  paralyzed  my  mem- 
ory. One  Saturday  I  walked  from  Sheffield 
to  Huddersfield  to  deliver  two  lectures.  It 
was  my  first  appearance  there,  and  I  was  anx- 


Fatigue  Poison  279 

ious  to  make  a  good  impression;  but  in  the 
morning  I  was  unable  to  do  more  than  talk 
half-audibly  and  incoherently.  In  the  eve- 
ning I  was  tolerable,  but  my  voice  and  memory 
were  weak.  My  annoyance  was  excessive.  I 
was  a  paradox  to  myself.  My  power  seemed 
to  come  and  go  by  some  eccentric  vagary  of  its 
own.  I  did  not  find  out  until  years  afterward 
that  exhaustion  of  my  strength  had  exhausted 
voice  and  memory." 

Fatigue  is  caused  by  the  presence  of  actual 
poison  in  the  brain  cells,  nerve  cells,  also  in  the 
tissues  and  the  muscles  and  other  organs,  due 
to  chemical  changes  from  the  presence  of 
broken-down  cells  and  other  debris  thrown  into 
the  circulation  as  ash-products  of  our  various 
activities. 

Experiments  have  shown  that  the  muscles 
of  guinea-pigs  which  have  been  put  into  a 
miniature  treadmill  and  forced  to  run  until 
they  drop  from  sheer  exhaustion  will  develop 
a  poisonous  substance  which,  when  inserted 
into  a  healthy  guinea-pig,  will  produce  all  the 
symptoms  of  extreme  fatigue  and  in  a  short 
time  will  cause  death. 

Similar  results  are  experienced  when  human 


280  Keeping  Fit 


beings  are  exhausted  from  overwork,  mental 
depression,  worry,  or  great  anxiety.  Habit- 
ual worriers  and  those  who  suffer  from  con- 
stant brain  strain  are  in  a  dangerous  condition. 
Few  overstrenuous  workers  realize  the  dan- 
ger of  working  when  the  nerve  cells  have  ex- 
hausted their  vitality.  No  good  engineer 
would  think  of  running  a  delicate  piece  of  com- 
plicated machinery  without  keeping  it  well 
lubricated.  He  would  know  that  the  moment 
the  bearings  begin  to  chafe  and  become  heated 
the  harmony  of  the  mechanism  will  be  de- 
stroyed and  the  friction  and  discord  will  soon 
ruin  the  delicate  adjustment  of  the  machine. 
Therefore,  he  keeps  every  bearing,  every 
minutist  part  constantly  oiled  and  in  perfect 
repair.  But  hundreds  of  men,  level-headed  in 
other  respects,  who  are  engineers  of  the  most 
marvelous  pieces  of  machinery  ever  devised, 
even  by  the  great  Creator-machinist, — ma- 
chines so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  wrought, 
— so  delicate  that  a  particle  of  dust  or  friction 
anywhere  may  throw  the  whole  mechanism  out 
of  harmony  for  days  or  weeks — run  their  en- 
gines, their  throbbing  human  organizations, 
without  proper  cleaning  or  lubrication. 


Fatigue  Poison  281 

Plenty  of  sleep  and  abundant  recreation  out 
of  doors,  especially  in  the  country,  are  man's 
great  lubricants;  Nature's  great  restorers,  re- 
fresheners, without  which  long-continued  good 
work  is  impossible. 

The  creative  power  of  the  brain  depends  also 
very  largely  upon  the  bodily  nourishment. 
You  may  feel  like  a  giant  in  the  morning, 
equal  to  any  undertaking;  and  yet,  if  you  eat 
nothing  for  twelve  hours,  the  giant  becomes  a 
pygmy;  your  courage  is  down;  your  original- 
ity, your  resourcefulness  have  oozed  out.  Here 
again  the  energy  and  the  quality  of  our  think- 
ing power  is  affected  by  the  poison  of  fatigue, 
when  the  blood  and  the  other  secretions  are 
surcharged  with  the  broken-down  tissues,  the 
debris  and  all  the  poisons  which  have  come 
from  the  day's  run  of  the  human  machine. 

Ambition  is  life's  thermometer.  When  it 
drops  from  any  cause, — from  physical  deple- 
tion, from  vitality  sappers,  from  loss  of  sleep, 
or  from  dissipation  of  any  other  kind, — our 
standards  are  down  and  everything  suffers  all 
along  the  line.  Every  mental  quality  drops 
with  the  dropping  of  the  physical  standard. 
The  poison  of  fatigue  takes  the  edge  off  one's 


282  Keeping  Fit 


ambition,  puts  a  film  over  his  ideals.  No  man 
can  do  as  big  a  thing  when  he  is  weary  as  when 
he  is  fresh.  Every  faculty  and  function  suffers 
from  the  poison  of  fatigue. 

As  a  rule  people  have  much  more  courage 
and  are  more  optimistic  early  in  the  day  than 
at  night  when  the  broken-down  tissues  and  the 
fatigue  caused  by  the  day's  run  of  the  mental 
and  physical  machine  have  loaded  the  blood 
and  other  secretions  with  poison.  Then  the 
natural  resisting  power  of  the  body  is  greatly 
reduced,  and  you  are  conscious  that  you  do  not 
have  the  same  mental  power,  the  same  mental 
grip  or  grasp  of  ideas ;  you  cannot  concentrate 
your  mind  with  the  same  vigor;  you  cannot 
plan  so  well;  you  cannot  make  as  good  a  pro- 
gram as  you  did  in  the  morning;  nor  can  you 
execute  it  as  effectively.  You  have  lost  much 
of  your  ambition,  and  life  does  not  look  so  rosy. 
You  should  go  to  the  sleep  garage  for  repairs. 
Nature  will  take  you  into  her  marvelous  labor- 
atory, put  you  under  the  ether  of  sleep,  and 
overhaul,  repair,  refresh,  and  rejuvenate,  make 
over  anew  the  entire  machine,  and  to-morrow 
morning  you  will  be  a  new  creature  with  new 


Fatigue  Poison  283 

ambitions,  with  fresh  courage  to  undertake, 
fresh  power  to  execute. 

People  who  habitually  undersleep  or  who 
are  very  irregular  in  their  sleeping  habits  suf- 
fer from  chronic  poisoning  from  the  non-elim- 
inated debris,  from  the  broken-down  tissues, 
the  burned-out  cells.  Because  they  feel  stupid 
and  heavy  and  unnatural,  they  often  try  to 
remedy  the  loss  of  sleep  and  get  rid  of  the 
poison  of  fatigue  by  stimulants  or  drugs,  which 
not  only  do  not  remedy  matters,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  mislead  the  user  with  a  false  sense 
of  stimulation,  the  reaction  from  which  leaves 
him  in  a  worse  condition  than  he  was  before. 

If  we  feel  heavy,  tired,  weary  for  any  length 
of  time  after  rising,  it  is  a  sign  that  the  poison- 
ous products  have  not  been  entirely  eliminated 
from  the  body  during  sleep.  Many  people 
who  habitually  rob  themselves  of  sleep  suffer 
greatly  from  chronic  poisoning  of  the  brain, 
nerves,  and  other  tissues.  They  never  feel 
quite  normal  and  their  health  and  efficiency 
are  materially  impaired. 

Animals  which  have  been  kept  continuously 
without  sleep  not  only  die  in  a  short  time,  but 


284  Keeping  Fit 


the  number  of  their  red  blood  corpuscles 
diminishes  often  from  two  to  five  millions  per 
cubic  millimeter.  Important  changes  in  the 
brain  have  also  been  noted  in  animals  which 
have  died  from  lack  of  sleep. 

When  overfatigued,  many  people  make  the 
mistake  of  sleeping  just  their  regular  time, 
seven,  eight,  or  nine  hours, — when,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  they  should  sleep  until  they  feel  ab- 
solutely refreshed  and  renewed.  It  is  only 
then  that  the  debris,  the  broken-down  tissues, 
all  the  poisons  from  the  previous  day's  run, 
have  been  eliminated. 

We  have  all  had  the  experience  of  retiring 
at  night  completely  discouraged  over  some- 
thing we  were  trying  to  accomplish,  and  wak- 
ing in  the  morning  with  an  entirely  changed 
mental  attitude, — new  hope  and  a  new  resolve. 
This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  poisons  have 
been  eliminated  during  our  sleep,  which  has 
also  increased  the  resisting  power  of  the  body 
and  filled  the  blood  with  new  building  material, 
new  courage,  new  energy,  new  life.  In  fact, 
after  a  refreshing  sleep  we  wake  into  a  new 
world,  a  world  of  hope  and  expectation.  This 
is  why  we  should  make  it  a  life  rule  not  to  de- 


Fatigue  Poison  285 

cide  important  things  at  night,  when  tired  and 
discouraged.  We  are  apt  to  do  things  then 
which  we  will  regret  in  the  morning,  after  the 
poisons  have  been  burned  out  of  the  system  and 
we  are  made  over  into  new  creatures. 

Sleep — rest,  complete  relaxation, — ^is  sim- 
ply the  antidote  for  brain  poison. 


XIII 

HOW   NATURE   MOTHERS  US 

Let  us  a  little  permit  Nature  to  take  her  own  way;  she 
better  understands  her  own  affairs  than  we. — Montaigne. 

Bone  is  twice  as  strong  as  oak.  It  would  require  a  weight 
of  five  thousand  pounds  to  crush  a  cubic  inch. — ^Mapother. 

Nature  never  did  betray 
The  heart  that  loved  her. 

— William  Wordsworth. 

Such  blessings  Nature  pours, 
O'erstocked  mankind  enjoy  but  half  her  stores. 

— Edward  Young. 

Years  ago  an  epidemic  of  smallpox  broke 
out  in  the  town  of  Blandford,  England.  There 
were  one  hundred  and  fifty  patients  suffering 
from  the  disease  in  the  hospital  when  a  fire 
started.  The  townspeople  being  afraid  to 
harbor  the  terror-stricken  sufferers,  they  were 
forced  out  into  the  fields,  and  were  obliged  to 
seek  shelter  under  hedges,  trees,  and  fences  for 
three  days  and  three  nights  during  inclement 
weather.     Everybody  thought  that  they  would 

286 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         287 


die  from  exposure,  if  not  from  the  disease,  but 
all  recovered  except  one  little  girl ;  probably  a 
very  much  greater  percentage  than  would  have 
recovered  but  for  the  calamity. 

Such  is  the  marvelous  healing  power  of 
Nature  that  when  left  to  herself  she  often  does 
infinitely  more  for  us  than  the  most  skillful 
physicians  and  their  most  potent  remedies. 
Our  most  celebrated  physicians  of  the  domin- 
ant school  admit  that  about  all  they  can  really 
do,  even  in  desperate  cases,  is  to  keep  the 
patient  in  the  most  favorable  condition  for 
Nature's  healing.  As  a  rule,  the  greater  the 
physician  the  less  he  depends  upon  drugs  and 
the  more  he  relies  upon  Nature  to  effect  a 
cure. 

The  healing  potencies  in  pure  air  and  sun- 
shine, with  nourishing  food,  are  now  the  great 
remedies  for  tuberculosis.  Even  in  the  coldest 
weather  tubercular  patients  are  kept  outdoors 
most  of  the  time,  day  and  night.  Years  ago 
night  air  was  considered  a  great  enemy  of  peo- 
ple in  delicate  health,  especially  consumptives. 
Windows  were  kept  closed  day  and  night. 
Now  we  are  finding  that  pure  air  is  one  of  the 
best  friends  of  the  sick  and  of  the  well. 


288  Keeping  Fit 


Nature  is  our  great  mother.  What  do  we 
not  owe  to  her!  What  would  become  of  us  if 
she  were  not  more  kind  to  us  than  we  are  to 
ourselves ;  if  she  did  not  try  in  all  sorts  of  ways 
to  neutralize  our  violation  of  health  laws  ?  No 
matter  how  we  abuse  or  lacerate  ourselves, 
break  our  bones,  poison  our  blood  with  vicious 
moods  and  killing  emotions ;  no  matter  how  we 
disobey  her  laws,  she  is  always  trying  to  mother 
us  back  to  health,  to  restore  us  to  normality. 
In  all  sorts  of  ways  she  is  continually  striving 
to  counteract  our  folly,  to  compensate  for  the 
injuries  caused  by  our  ignorance  or  careless- 
ness. As  soon  as  the  harm  is  done  she  gets  to 
work  to  mend  our  wounds,  our  hurts.  She 
brings  material  to  heal  our  broken  bones,  to 
repair  all  damages  and  to  give  us  back  our 
health  and  wholeness. 

How  patient  Mother  Nature  is  with  us  when 
through  ignorance  or  lack  of  self-control  we 
pile  upon  the  digestive  organs,  which  are  ex- 
tremely delicate  and  were  made  to  perform 
only  simple  tasks,  all  kinds  of  complicated 
work!  How  she  bears  with  us  when  we  bolt 
our  food  and  eat  all  sorts  of  things  which  an- 
tagonize one  another  and  cause  serious  damage 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         289 


by  overloading  and  clogging  the  different  tis- 
sues of  the  body  and  by  the  poisons  caused  by 
bad  digestion  and  mal-assimilation !  How  she 
bears  with  us  when  we  abuse  all  her  laws  in 
regard  to  eating,  sleeping,  and  exercise !  How 
kind  and  forgiving  she  is,  always  doing  her 
level  best  to  repair  our  injured  tissues,  to  atone 
for  the  insults  we  continually  offer  to  our 
health  and  wholeness ! 

Nature  is  not  a  moralist  or  a  respecter  of 
persons,  but  the  common  watchful,  sympa- 
thetic mother  of  us  all.  She  takes  no  note  of 
our  color,  our  standing,  or  our  social  condition. 
Rich  and  poor  are  alike  to  her.  We  may  abuse 
ourselves  by  all  sorts  of  dissipation;  we  may 
even  wallow  in  vice  and  crime ;  still,  if  we  give 
her  the  least  opportunity,  she  will  do  every- 
thing in  her  power  to  repair  the  wrong,  to 
build  us  up  again,  to  bring  us  back  to  self- 
respect  and  to  a  healthy  condition,  and  to  give 
us  another  chance  to  live  in  accordance  with 
her  laws. 

Many  people  cannot  understand  why  we 
should  be  afflicted  with  pain.  They  think 
Nature,  in  causing  physical  suffering,  is  a  cruel 
tyrant.     But  pain  is  her  wonderful  danger 


290  Keeping  Fit 


signal,  without  which,  perhaps,  no  child  would 
ever  live  to  reach  maturity.  Were  it  not  for 
the  warnings  which  pain  gives,  how  many 
would  grow  up  without  losing  their  fingers, 
eyes,  or  noses, — without  having  their  bodies  in 
some  way  disfigured?  A  small  child's  judg- 
ment, his  common  sense  and  caution,  are  not 
yet  developed.  He  is  often  fearless,  and  his 
only  protection  from  danger  is  really  his  dread 
of  pain,  as  when  he  cuts  or  burns  himself.  If 
there  were  no  pain  warning  of  danger  through 
the  sensitive  nerves,  it  is  doubtful  whether  any 
child  would  grow  to  maturity  without  some 
fearful  mutilation. 

Most  grown  people  would  seriously  if  not 
fatally  injure  their  health  but  for  Nature's 
premonition  somewhere  in  the  injured  organs, 
which  warns  them  to  look  out,  to  stop,  to  slow 
down  for  repairs,  to  seek  advice  of  a  physician. 
These  pains  are  often  the  means  of  saving  our 
lives.  But  for  them  many  of  us  would  prob- 
ably ruin  our  bodies  by  vicious  habits  and  in- 
dulgences, by  careless  handling  of  our  tools  or 
of  fire;  by  overwork,  by  excesses  in  eating  or 
drinking,  or  by  some  other  phase  of  foolish 
living. 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         291 

These  premonitory  pains  or  danger  signals 
say  to  us,  "Look  out!  Look  out  sharply  there! 
Dangerous  passing!  You  are  overspeeding 
your  human  machine ;  you  are  running  too  fast. 
Go  slow!  Go  very  slow!"  Nature  is  constantly 
giving  us  these  warnings.  She  is  a  wise  as  well 
as  tender  mother,  and  often  inflicts  pain  to 
save  us  from  ourselves;  from  the  fatal  conse- 
quences of  our  ignorance;  from  our  continued 
violation  of  her  laws. 

In  addition  to  the  warning  of  the  nerves,  the 
body  is  policed  in  every  nook  and  corner  where 
the  blood  can  penetrate  by  protective  cells, 
called  leucocytes,  which  attack  the  enemies  of 
our  health,  the  disease  germs,  and  do  their  best 
to  strangle  and  destroy  them,  to  render  them 
harmless  to  life. 

Mother  Nature  has  also  placed  as  sentinels 
in  different  parts  of  the  body  protective  glands 
which  are  always  on  duty,  such  as  the  liver,  the 
kidneys,  the  thyroid  gland,  the  pancreas,  etc. 
These  serve  also  as  storehouses  where  some  of 
the  most  important  supplies  are  put  aside  for 
the  future  use  of  our  organs,  such  as  iron,  ar- 
senic, phosphorus,  sugar,  etc.  These  glands 
are  constantly  on  guard  to  protect  us  from  the 


292  Keeping  Fit 


poisons  in  our  food,  which  but  for  them  would 
often  prove  fatal  to  life.  The  gormandizing  of 
some  people  at  a  single  banquet  would  kill 
them  but  for  the  protective  glands  which  elim- 
inate the  poisonous  combinations  from  foods 
which  do  not  belong  together  and  which  an- 
tagonize one  another. 

When  the  system  is  in  a  perfectly  healthy 
condition  and  our  disease-resisting  power  is  at 
its  maximum,  the  enemy,  or  disease  germs,  can- 
not get  hold  of  us  because  there  is  nothing  for 
them  to  feed  upon;  but,  when  our  physical 
status  is  run  down  and  our  vitality  is  low,  our 
resisting  power  is  feeble,  the  blood  and  other 
secretions  are  loaded  with  the  debris  of  dead 
cells  and  broken-down  tissues  which  have  not 
been  eliminated,  and  this  filth  forms  just  the 
food  upon  which  disease  germs  thrive. 

For  example,  tuberculosis  germs  can  never 
get  hold  of  us  until  the  thyroid  and  sexual 
glands  begin  to  deteriorate  from  abuse  or  low- 
ered vitality;  consequently,  in  our  choice  of 
food,  our  manner  of  partaking  of  it,  our 
digestion  of  it, — in  short,  in  the  whole  care  of 
our  health,  we  should  keep  this  one  thing  in 
mind, — to  maintain  the  absolute  integrity  of 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         293 


the  glands,  which  contribute  their  various 
products  to  the  blood  and  regulate  the  distri- 
bution of  all  of  the  nutritive  salts,  such  as  iron, 
arsenic,  lime,  phosphorus,  and  the  different 
building  materials  of  the  body  and  the  dif- 
ferent energy,  force- forming,  heat-producing 
foods  which  are  consumed  in  the  combustion 
of  the  body. 

The  best  food  for  the  building  and  main- 
taining of  the  integrity  of  the  protective  glands 
is  undoubtedly  found  in  a  diet  largely  com- 
posed of  milk,  eggs,  vegetables,  and  fruit.  We 
also  require  fats  in  the  form  of  cream,  bacon, 
and  butter,  or  starch  from  such  carbohydrates 
as  rice,  sago,  tapioca,  macaroni,  etc.  If  these 
substances  are  lacking,  the  body  will  very 
quickly  become  emaciated  and  the  cell  life  will 
deteriorate. 

In  its  body-building  properties  milk  is  the 
most  comprehensive  of  all  natural  products. 
In  it  Nature  has  made  a  wonderful  provision 
for  assisting  the  life  processes  and  building  up 
the  body  of  the  infant  when  it  is  absolutely 
unable  to  help  itself,  and  when  the  parent's 
ignorance  of  food  balances  would  undoubtedly 
result  in  its  early  death. 


294  Keeping  Fit 


While  a  young  infant  could  not  partake  of 
solid  food  without  choking  itself,  Nature  has 
so  provided,  in  the  marvelous  construction  of 
milk,  that  it  forms  solid  food  in  the  stomach. 
The  gastric  juice  separates  the  milk  into  whey 
and  curd.  The  latter  forms  the  solid  tissues 
of  the  body,  without  which  life  would  be  im- 
possible. Cream  is  the  carbon  which  furnishes 
the  fuel,  supporting  the  combustion  of  the 
body  and  maintaining  the  proper  heat. 

When  we  realize  that  milk  contains  forty 
different  food  elements,  every  constituent  that 
enters  into  the  human  body,  and  those  in 
proper  proportion  for  maintaining  the  balance 
and  harmony  of  all  its  forty  different  physical 
organs,  we  have  some  idea  of  what  a  wonder- 
ful substance  it  is.  There  is  no  other  thing 
which  more  certainly  indicates  the  divine  wis- 
dom of  our  Father-Mother  God,  than  the 
construction  of  milk  and  its  marvelous  adap- 
tation to  the  needs  of  the  body. 

In  our  ignorance  we  have  considered  that 
there  are  certain  organs  in  the  body  which  do 
not  cut  much  of  a  figure  in  the  physical  econ- 
omy. In  fact,  some  of  them  we  have  regarded 
as  useless,  but  now  science  is  finding  that  even 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us        295 

those  are  not  only  useful  but  very  important. 
Take,  for  example,  the  tonsils,  which  have  been 
removed  innumerable  times  by  surgeons  who 
have  considered  them  of  no  account.  Science 
is  showing  us  to-day  that  they  are  sentinels  in- 
tended to  guard  one  of  the  most  important  en- 
trances in  the  body, — where  the  air  goes  to  the 
lungs  and  the  food  to  the  stomach.  The  very 
fact  that  these  glands  become  so  much  in- 
flamed in  certain  infectious  diseases — such  as 
measles  and  scarlet  fever, — and  the  other  fact 
that,  when  they  are  entirely  removed,  a  general 
eruption  often  breaks  out  all  over  the  body, — 
show  that  these  sentinels,  in  their  anatomical 
position  on  both  sides  of  the  entrance  to  the 
passage  of  the  air  and  food,  must  perform 
some  important  function  with  which  science  is 
not  yet  familiar. 

What  are  the  probabilities  that  the  Al- 
mighty put  into  the  marvelous  human  struc- 
ture organs  which  are  useless?  It  is  an  easy 
thing  to  say  that  in  man's  evolution  from  the 
ape  certain  organs  or  tissues,  such  as  the  ap- 
pendix, which  were  once  useful,  in  centuries 
of  development  have  become  useless,  as  many 
physicians  and  surgeons  believe.    But  we  are 


296  Keeping  Fit 


beginning  to  find  that  there  is  a  real,  sympa- 
thetic connection  between  the  appendix  and  the 
tonsils.  The  appendix,  like  the  tonsils,  is  a 
lymphatic  structure.  Some  authorities  call  it 
the  intestinal  tonsil.  Appendicitis  often  fol- 
lows the  removal  of  the  tonsils.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  there  is  any  useless  or  meaningless 
organ  or  tissue  in  the  body,  for  Nature  is  a 
strict  economist,  working  up  every  scrap  into 
new  formations  just  as  soon  as  it  becomes  use- 
less where  it  is. 

We  can  easily  test  this.  If  we  put  pieces  of 
meat  in  an  artificial  gastric  juice  by  placing 
a  little  pepsin  in  water  containing  five  per  cent, 
of  hydrochloric  acid,  which  is  about  the  pro- 
portion of  the  constituents  forming  the  gastric 
juice,  we  find  that  it  remains,  even  in  a  warm 
temperature,  without  developing  the  slightest 
odor  of  decomposition.  What  a  marvelous 
forethought  of  Nature  in  this  wonderful  pro- 
vision ! 

In  numberless  ways  the  great  Mother  tries 
to  shield  us  from  the  vicious  effects  of  our  own 
ignorance  or  folly.  In  case  we  abuse  the  stom- 
ach so  that  it  cannot  perform  its  functions,  the 
digestive  glands  in  the  intestines  perform  them. 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         297 

If  we  allow  the  pores  of  the  skin  to  become 
closed  by  lack  of  bathing  Nature  assists  us  by 
two  alternatives, — the  lungs  and  the  kidneys 
perform  their  function. 

The  liver  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
organs  for  the  elimination  and  neutralization 
of  poisons.  Before  the  food  is  allowed  to  go 
to  the  various  tissues  at  all  it  is  sent  to  the  liver 
to  be  inspected  and  overhauled,  and  to  have 
many  injurious  substances  extracted.  All 
sorts  of  poisonous  or  dangerous  substances 
which  have  been  taken  up  by  the  blood  vessels 
in  the  intestinal  tract  and  carried  to  the  liver 
through  the  portal  vein  are  here  destroyed  or 
neutralized.  It  is  here  that  poisons  which 
would  cause  speedy  death,  if  taken  through  a 
woimid  in  the  skin,  are  rendered  harmless, — 
such  as  the  venom  of  snakes.  People  can  live 
without  food  for  forty  or  fifty  days ;  they  can 
even  live  without  a  stomach  indefinitely;  but 
they  could  not  live  twenty-four  hours  without 
a  liver. 

If  some  of  our  various  organs  were  not  bet- 
ter to  us  than  we  are  to  ourselves,  if  they  were 
not  wiser  than  we  are,  we  should  poison  our- 
selves with  our  food  in  a  very  short  time.    No 


298  Keeping  Fit 


human  being  would  live  a  week  but  for  the  fact 
that,  stationed  all  through  his  body,  there  are 
organs  which  neutralize  poisons.  The  saliva 
has  an  antiseptic  function.  We  all  know  how 
dogs  constantly  lick  their  wounds  and  how 
quickly  they  heal.  It  is  well  known  that  these 
wounds  never  become  infected  if  they  are 
where  the  dogs  can  get  at  them ;  otherwise  they 
very  quickly  do  so.  The  gastric  juice,  with  its 
hydrochloric  acid  and  pepsin,  is  a  great  pro- 
tector against  many  of  the  poisons  which  gain 
access  to  the  stomach.  If  it  were  not  for  this 
protective  power,  we  should  very  often  suffer 
seriously.  This  would  be  even  more  true  of 
dogs,  which  often  eat  all  sorts  of  decayed 
food  and  are  only  saved  by  the  disinfecting 
gastric  juice. 

A  rich  diet,  especially  an  excessive  meat  diet, 
imposes  an  enormous  amount  of  work  upon  the 
protective  glands  and  thus  greatly  increases 
the  danger  to  health.  Many  people  so  abuse 
their  livers  by  an  overabundance  of  meat  that 
they  are  never  normal,  and  constantly  resort 
to  drugs  to  correct  their  chronic  biliousness, 
which  is  really  a  chronic  poisoning  of  the  body. 
Great  smokers  could  not  live  a  month  if  the 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         299 

liver  did  not  stop  the  nicotine  of  the  tobacco 
and  counteract  much  of  its  poisonous  effects. 
If  this  organ  is  greatly  overworked, — as  it  so 
often  is  through  our  foolishness, — in  trying  to 
counteract  the  effects  of  the  poisons  of  fatigue, 
coffee,  alcohol,  and  foods  which  antagonize  one 
another  and  leave  a  noxious  residue  in  the  sys- 
tem, it  may  be  seriously  injured. 

The  liver  is  the  first  clearing-house  along  the 
digestive  tract.  As  most  of  the  food  we  eat 
is  taken  into  the  stomach  in  a  solid  mass,  it 
must  be  liquefied  or  digested  before  its  nutri- 
ment can  be  absorbed  into  the  blood. 

After  the  gastric  juice  in  the  stomach  has 
cut,  dissolved,  softened,  churned  together  and 
partially  liquefied  the  food,  it  passes  farther 
along  the  digestive  tract  and  it  gets  its  first 
digestive  fluid  (after  its  treatment  by  the  gas- 
tric juice)  from  the  liver  in  the  shape  of  the 
bile.  This  fluid  is  not  only  an  important  fac- 
tor in  the  digestive  process  but  it  is  also  a  great 
lubricant  of  the  food  mass.  Were  it  not  for 
the  aid  which  it  gives,  the  peristaltic  motion  of 
the  intestine  alone  would  not  be  able  to  move 
this  mass  along  and  there  would  be  serious  and 
fatal  stagnation. 


300  Keeping  Fit 


After  the  food  mass  has  received  the  pan- 
creatic secretion  and  all  the  other  digestive 
fluids  in  its  passage,  the  nutriment  is  absorbed 
through  the  delicate  lining  of  the  intestines, 
then  it  goes  to  the  liver,  where  it  is  overhauled, 
dissected,  and  the  injurious  substances  re- 
moved. The  liver  also  extracts  the  sugar 
which  it  stores  up  for  the  future  use  of  the 
body,  after  which  the  liquid  food  is  pumped 
to  the  upper  part  of  the  heart,  dropped  into 
the  lower  ventricle,  and  then  forcibly  pumped 
to  the  under  surface  of  the  lungs,  on  the  other 
side  of  which  is  the  inbreathed  air. 

Through  these  twelve  hundred  or  more 
square  feet  of  lung  surface  there  instantly 
takes  place  a  marvelous  operation.  The  oxy- 
gen of  the  inbreathed  air  rushes  through  the 
membrane  into  the  impure  blood  which  has 
been  pumped  from  the  heart,  instantly  form- 
ing millions  of  red  blood  globules,  and  the  poi- 
sons and  impurities  of  the  blood  are  forced 
through  this  lung  membrane  and  immediately 
out  with  the  exhaled  breath. 

Each  one  of  the  protective  glands  of  the  body 
has  its  part  in  the  purification  and  modifica- 
tion, in  some  way,  of  the  nutriment  digested. 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         301 

How  few  people  realize  that  practically  all 
they  eat  must  pass  through  the  kidneys.  Not 
only  every  drop  of  liquid  but  more  than  nine- 
tenths  of  all  solid  foods  first  pass  into  the 
great-  blood  stream  to  be  ultimately  eliminated 
by  the  kidneys;  and  unless  these  delicate  or- 
gans are  in  perfect  condition,  serious  results 
to  health  are  likely  to  follow. 

The  kidneys  take  out  of  the  blood  many  of 
the  poisons  which  have  been  thrown  into  the 
veins,  the  great  sewage  system  of  the  body. 
This  veinous  blood  contains  all  the  debris  and 
ashes  from  the  workings  and  the  grindings,  the 
wear  and  tear,  in  all  of  the  tissues  of  the  body ; 
the  broken-down  brain  cells,  nerve  cells,  muscle 
cells,  and  the  used-up  cells  from  the  exercise 
of  the  various  functions  of  the  body,  or  from 
the  activity  of  any  diseased  condition.  The 
heart  pumps  this  poisonous  mass  to  the  under 
surface  of  the  lungs,  there  to  exchange  many 
of  its  poisons  for  the  life-giving  oxygen  which 
is  breathed  in  against  the  opposite  surface  of 
the  lungs.  All  the  poisons  not  eliminated  by 
the  lungs,  or  through  the  pores  of  the  skin  in 
skin  respiration,  the  kidneys  are  obliged  to  take 
care  of.    When  the  blood  is  particularly  foul 


302  Keeping  Fit 


with  poisons  from  overeating  or  half  digested 
or  partly  assimilated  food,  or  the  vicious  ef- 
fects of  alcohol  or  of  coffee  or  tobacco,  all  the 
tissues  are  affected. 

When  these  poisons  accumulate  to  an  un- 
bearable degree,  as  in  acute  Bright's  Disease, 
because  the  delicate  structure  of  the  kidneys  is 
so  impaired  that  they  cannot  take  the  impuri- 
ties out  of  the  blood,  the  patient  dies;  for,  al- 
though the  lungs  and  skin  eliminate  much  of 
the  poison,  there  is  no  way  of  getting  all  of  it 
out  of  the  system  without  the  aid  of  the 
kidneys. 

Nearly  all  Americans  seriously  overwork 
this  delicate  mechanism.  Our  complex  living 
accounts  for  the  great  prevalence  of  kidney 
troubles  in  America,  especially  among  the  well- 
to-do  classes.  Poor  people,  those  who  are  com- 
pelled to  live  simply,  are  not  troubled  nearly 
so  much  in  this  way. 

In  our  wise  Mother  Nature's  wonderful  pro- 
vision against  accident  or  disease,  she  has  ar- 
ranged vicarious  functions;  so  that  in  case  a 
man  in  his  ignorance  or  through  lack  of  self- 
control  of  his  appetites  brings  diseased  condi- 
tions upon  the  kidneys,  for  example,  so  that 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         303 

they  cannot  completely  perform  their  func- 
tions, or  they  are  overworked,  a  safety  valve 
is  supplied  by  the  skin  and  lungs  for  the  elim- 
ination of  the  poisonous  products  from  the  de- 
composition in  the  body.  In  pneumonia,  the 
skin  and  the  kidneys  have  to  do  about  all  the 
work  of  expelling  the  poisons  from  the  body. 
Turkish  baths,  or  long  hot  baths,  or  other 
means  of  bringing  about  a  very  profuse  per- 
spiration, greatly  assist  the  kidneys  by  the 
ejection  through  the  pores  of  a  great  deal  of 
poisonous  matter  which  the  kidneys  would 
otherwise  have  to  eliminate. 

How  little  people  realize  the  importance  of 
keeping  open  and  absolutely  clear  the  many 
millions  of  pores  in  the  human  skin,  through 
which  breathing  is  just  as  necessary  to  the 
elimination  of  the  poisons  of  the  body  as  is 
breathing  through  the  lungs!  Death  often 
follows  cases  of  very  extensive  burns,  more 
because  of  the  stopping  of  the  skin  breath- 
ing, especially  when  the  burned  portions  are 
swathed  with  bandages,  than  anything  else. 
In  such  cases  all  the  rest  of  the  body  is  ex- 
posed to  the  air  in  order  to  prevent  death  from 
skin  suffocation. 


304  Keeping  Fit 


It  is  estimated  that  a  quart  of  water,  carry- 
ing all  sorts  of  poisonous  matters,  is  often  ex- 
haled from  the  skin  in  a  single  day.  Experi- 
ments show  that  as  much  as  six  grams  of 
common  salt  alone  and  from  one  to  two  grams 
of  nitrogenous  substances  are  often  contained 
in  the  exhalation  from  the  skin  in  twenty-four 
hours.  Because  the  moisture  evaporated  from 
the  skin  is  invisible  people  do  not  realize  the 
importance  of  letting  it  escape  freely.  If  they 
could  only  see  the  poisonous  vapors  which  are 
constantly  being  given  out  by  the  skin  and 
which  lodge  in  the  clothing,  and  if  they  could 
only  understand  the  bad  effects  of  reabsorb- 
ing these  poisons  through  the  pores,  they  would 
not  so  often  be  indifferent  to  the  daily  bath 
and  their  manner  of  dressing. 

Every  one  should  take  a  daily  bath,  either 
in  warm,  tepid,  or  cold  water.  It  is  a  great 
health  promoter,  and  tends  to  preserve  one's 
youthful  appearance.  When  a  full  bath  is  im- 
possible, one  should  take  a  sitz  bath, — at  all 
events  a  sponge-bath  every  day.  A  cold  foot- 
bath with  a  brisk  rubbing  with  a  rough  towel 
afterward  is  especially  beneficial  to  those  who 
have  cold  feet.  It  helps  the  circulation  wonder- 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         305 

fully.  Very  old  and  feeble  people  should  take 
a  warm  or  tepid  bath,  after  which  a  cold  douche 
is  good  for  closing  the  pores  in  cold  weather. 

Many  people  dress  much  too  warmly,  be- 
cause they  think  that  heavy  woolen  underwear 
not  only  protects  them  from  cold,  but  keeps 
them  from  taking  cold.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
people  who  wear  heavy  underclothing  are 
much  more  subject  to  colds,  because  the  per- 
spiration, even  when  an  insensible  amount, 
leaves  the  pores  open,  so  that  when  they  go 
out  in  the  cold  they  get  a  much  greater  shock 
than  those  who  wear  lighter,  more  porous 
underwear,  like  cotton  or  linen.  Porous  linen 
is  splendid,  but  it  does  not  give  up  the  skin 
exhalation  as  readily  as  cotton.  Woolen  is 
good,  but  it  should  be  porous,  although  it  is 
not  so  easily  cleansed,  as  the  wool  becomes 
matted  after  being  washed  many  times  and 
retains  the  poisons  from  the  skin  longer  than 
linen  or  cotton. 

Years  ago,  many  people,  especially  those 
living  in  the  country,  would  wear  the  heaviest 
underwear  they  could  get,  but  they  are  now 
discovering  that  it  is  much  better  to  wear 
lighter  and  more  porous  undergarments  and 


306  Keeping  Fit 


compensate  for  it  by  heavier  overcoats  or 
ulsters  when  out  of  doors. 

The  skin  should  have  pure  air,  which  many 
people  seldom  give  it,  especially  in  cold 
weather,  when  they  wear  close-fitting  and 
tight-meshed  underwear,  which  does  not  per- 
mit (and  this  is  of  the  greatest  importance)  a 
layer  of  warm  air  between  the  clothing  and 
the  body.  This  layer  of  air  being  a  poor  con- 
ductor of  heat,  the  normal  heat  is  not  too  rap- 
idly radiated  from  the  body.  Cotton  retains 
the  warmth  of  the  body  and  at  the  same  time 
allows  a  free  exit  for  the  exhalations  of  the 
skin.  No  one  can  be  really  healthy  who  does 
not  wear  loose  and  porous  underwear^  be- 
cause there  are  eliminated  through  perspira- 
tion many  poisons  like  urea,  uric  acid,  acetic 
acid,  lactic  acid,  common  salt,  and  a  number 
of  fatty  acids. 

Very  few  dress  their  feet  in  a  sanitary  way, 
especially  in  winter,  when  they  wear  high, 
close,  non-porous  shoes,  thus  giving  the  feet, 
which  have  large  pores  and  large  sweat-glands, 
no  opportunity  to  breathe  and  get  rid  of  the 
exhaled  poisons,  which  are  reabsorbed  when 
the  air  is  excluded. 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         307 

The  only  thing  that  is  respectably  sanitary 
for  people  who  wear  high  cloth  or  leather  boots 
is  to  change  their  stockings  every  day.  When 
removed  at  night  they  are  saturated  with  poi- 
sonous exhalations.  Everybody  should  wear 
porous  shoes,  preferably  low  shoes;  and,  if 
necessary,  with  the  latter  wear  porous  gaiters 
in  winter.  In  other  words,  fresh  air  should 
have  free  access  to  the  feet.  It  is  a  good  thing, 
whenever  possible,  to  remove  the  shoes  during 
the  day  and  give  the  feet  an  air  bath.  Rubber 
boots,  which  many  men  in  the  country  wear 
a  great  deal  of  the  time  in  winter  are  very  in- 
jurious. When  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
wear  them  the  socks  should  be  changed  every 
day  and  the  boots  removed  several  times  a  day 
to  give  the  skin  an  opportunity  to  breathe. 

Fur  coats  should  be  prohibited  by  every 
board  of  health  as  very  unsanitary.  Many 
people  wear  rubber  coats  and  raincoats  even 
in  pleasant  weather,  and  rubbers  on  their  feet. 
These  things  should  only  be  indulged  in  in  very 
wet  weather,  and  then  just  as  little  as  possible, 
for  they  retain  the  poisonous  exhalation  from 
the  skin.  A  great  many  Scotchmen  and  Eng- 
lishmen never  wear  overcoats,  and  they  take  a 


308  Keeping  Fit 


great  deal  of  outdoor  exercise  and  are  very 
strong  and  vigorous.  Americans,  who  bundle 
up  in  the  winter  and  wear  heavy  and  non- 
porous  clothing,  should  profit  by  their  ex- 
ample. 

Tight-fitting  hats  are  bad,  particularly  for 
men  who  wear  them  most  of  the  time.  Hats 
ought  to  be  porous  and  should  be  frequently 
removed  in  order  to  give  free  exhalation  to  the 
scalp.  The  growing  custom  of  going  bare- 
headed is  a  most  healthful  one;  the  only  bad 
effect  is  the  possible  injury  of  the  sunlight  to 
the  eyes. 

The  most  important  thing  in  dressing  is  to 
wear  loose  clothing  and  to  provide  for  free 
skin  breathing  both  day  and  night.  People 
who  suffer  from  cold  and  feel  that  they  must 
sleep  under  a  great  deal  of  clothing  would 
derive  much  benefit  by  jumping  out  of  bed 
whenever  they  wake  up  in  the  night  and  stand- 
ing a  minute  in  the  open  air,  or  else  throwing 
the  bedclothes  off  for  a  moment  or  two,  thus 
giving  an  opportunity  for  the  poisoned  air  to 
escape  from  the  clothing. 

In  bed  the  great  majority  of  people  do  not 
give  the  skin  a  fair  opportunity  to  breathe,  be- 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         309 


cause  of  finely  woven  cotton  sheets  and  a  great 
abundance  of  bedclothing.  This  is  very  bad, 
because  if  the  poisonous  exhalations  from 
the  body  cannot  escape  they  are  reabsorbed 
through  the  pores;  this  is  especially  true  of 
people  who  perspire  much.  Then,  again,  many 
people  sleep  under  quilts  covered  with  cotton 
batting,  which  is  very  non-porous.  Coarsely 
woven  linen  sheets  and  woolen  blankets  are 
much  better.  Many  men  make  a  point  of 
wearing  in  winter  long  tight  nightshirts,  made 
of  heavy  woolen  which  prevents  free  skin 
breathing.  Some  are  greatly  benefited  by 
wearing  no  nightshirt  at  all,  thus  giving  the 
body  a  continuous  air  bath. 

If  people  would  only  take  an  air  bath  lasting 
five  or  ten  minutes  every  day,  with  all  of  their 
clothing  removed,  they  would  get  wonderful 
benefit,  especially  if  these  air  baths  could  be 
taken  in  the  sun.  When  undressing  at  night 
and  before  dressing  in  the  morning,  it  is  very 
beneficial  to  take  a  skin  bath,  rubbing  oneself 
vigorously  with  a  coarse  towel,  or  with  a  flesh 
brush  when  cold.  This  will  accustom  the  skin 
to  bearing  the  cold  air,  and  the  person  will  be 
much  less  likely  to  take  cold.     I  know  people 


310  Keeping  Fit 


who  do  this  even  in  the  coldest  weather  and 
they  very  rarely  take  cold,  especially  when  they 
take  a  quick  cold  bath, — not  a  plunge,  but  a 
quick  sponge  bath  with  vigorous  friction  after- 
ward. This  sets  the  skin  all  aglow  and  won- 
derfully improves  the  skin  circulation.  Those 
who  do  this  are  much  less  likely  to  suffer  from 
the  cold,  and  after  a  while  they  will  find  that 
they  will  not  require  so  much  clothing  day  or 
night. 

A  multitude  of  people  go  through  life  with 
poor  or  indifferent  health  who  might  enjoy 
robust  health  but  for  their  ignorance  of  all 
these  matters,  such  as  the  miracle  of  the  bath 
and  of  provision  for  easy  skin  breathing.  If 
they  would  only  take  good  care  of  their  skin 
alone,  they  would  have  more  vital  power  and 
would  look  much  fresher  and  live  much  longer. 
This  would  also  very  much  lessen  the  risk  of 
kidney  diseases,  for  it  is  possible  for  the  skin 
to  relieve  the  kidneys  wonderfully  by  eliminat- 
ing many  of  the  poisons  from  the  body.  Much 
extra  work  is  thrown  upon  the  kidneys  when 
the  skin  is  neglected.  We  get  some  idea  of  the 
great  importance  of  this  when  we  remember 
that  kidney  diseases  form  a  very  considerable 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us        311 

percentage  of  the  maladies  that  prove  fatal. 
If  people  only  realized  the  importance  of  the 
skin  in  the  human  economy,  and  treated  it  in 
a  perfectly  hygienic  manner,  it  would  revolu- 
tionize the  health  of  multitudes  and  contribute 
greatly  to  their  longevity. 

We  could  produce  a  race  of  giants  in  half 
a  century  if  we  obeyed  the  laws  of  health.  The 
trouble  is,  we  do  not  give  our  Mother  Nature 
even  half  a  chance.  She  tries  in  all  sorts  of 
ways  to  compensate  for  our  ignorance  and  our 
vicious  customs,  supplying  us  with  organs  de- 
signed especially  to  protect  us  from  self-de- 
struction ;  neutralizing  the  poisons  we  wilfully 
absorb;  offsetting,  as  best  she  can,  the  killing 
pace  of  modern  life;  struggling  to  counteract 
dissipation  and  disease,  but  she  cannot  accom- 
plish the  miracle  of  health  without  our  co- 
operation. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  people  should  be  so 
ignorant  of  the  location  and  functions  of  the 
thyroid  gland,  which,  perhaps,  has  more  to  do 
in  maintaining  physical  harmony  and  balance, 
than  any  other  organ,  except  the  heart.  This 
gland,  situated  in  the  lower  part  of  the  front 
of  the  neck,  is  the  great  heat  regulator,  the 


312  Keeping  Fit 


thermometer,  of  the  body.  Without  its  in- 
fluence, the  temperature  would  fall  so  far  be- 
low the  ninety-eight  and  one  half  degrees  re- 
quired by  perfect  health  that  life  would  soon 
become  extinct.  It  also  performs  the  wonder- 
ful function  of  presiding  over  the  transforma- 
tion of  the  nutriment  from  our  food  into  the 
various  tissues  of  the  body. 

When  this  organ  becomes  enlarged,  as  it 
sometimes  (but  not  always)  does  when  dis- 
eased, we  have  what  is  known  as  goitre.  Many 
people  injure  it  by  wearing  high,  tight  collars. 
They  do  not  realize  its  great  importance,  es- 
pecially in  women.  It  is  extremely  sensitive 
in  its  sympathetic  relations  to  many  of  the 
other  organs  in  the  body. 

Some  people  are  constantly  depressed  and 
suffer  from  chronic  melancholy  because  of  the 
deterioration  of  the  thyroid  gland,  and  it  is 
useless  to  try  to  change  their  mental  state  until 
its  condition  has  been  corrected.  Diabetes  is 
largely  due  to  the  overactivity  of  this  gland 
and  the  degeneration  of  the  pancreas;  these 
organs  not  being  able  to  regulate  properly  the 
transformation  of  food  into  the  various  tissues 
of  the  body. 


How  Nature  Mothers  Us         313 

A  scientific  knowledge  of  the  functions  and 
the  uses  of  the  various  glands  of  the  body  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  in  the  treatment  of 
diseases,  especially  of  mental  troubles,  and 
their  integrity  is  essential  to  health  and  a  high 
order  of  efficiency. 

As  a  rule,  the  internal  glands  which  guard 
the  health,  eliminate  the  poisons  and  change 
the  nourishment  into  tissues,  are  in  a  healthy 
condition  in  men  of  fearless  courage,  of  com- 
manding, dominating  mentality  and  unusual 
initiative.  The  great  achievements  of  the  world 
are  due  to  men  in  whom  these  organs  were 
practically  in  perfect  condition,  while  their  de- 
terioration has  always  been  followed  by  a  les- 
sening of  their  mental  power,  a  weakening  of 
their  mental  grip,  and  deterioration  of  their 
courage  and  initiative. 

"Thus  Nature  dwells  within  our  reach  j 
But,  though  we  stand  so  near  her, 
We  still  interpret  half  her  speech 
With  ears  too  dull  to  hear  her." 


XIV 

WHAT   TO   EAT   AFTER   FIFTY 

They  are  as  sick  that  surfeit  with  too  much  as  they  that 
starve  with  nothing. — Shakespeare. 

Whosoever  wishes  to  eat  much  must  eat  little, — ^which  means 
simply  that  eating  little  lengthens  a  man's  life,  and  by  living 
a  long  time  he  is  enabled  to  eat  a  great  deal. 

— Louis  Comaro. 

Is  your  fat,  good-natured  old  grandfather  living  on  fat  beef 
and  pork,  white  bread  and  butter,  buckwheat  cakes  and  mo- 
lasses, rice  and  sugar,  till  he  has  lost  all  mental  and  physical 
energy,  and  desires  to  sit  from  morning  till  night  in  the  chim- 
ney-corner or  at  the  register,  saying  nothing  and  caring  for 
nothing? — Change  his  diet,  give  him  fish,  beefsteak,  potatoes, 
and  unbolted  wheat  bread,  or  rye  and  Indian,  with  one-half  or 
three-quarters  of  the  carboniferous  articles  of  his  former  diet, 
and  in  one  week  he  will  cheer  you  again  with  his  old  jokes  and 
call  for  his  hat  and  cane. — Dr.  Albert  J.  Bellows. 

After  experimenting  for  many  years  upon 
the  influence  of  foods  upon  his  health  and  efii- 
ciency,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  the  greatest  living 
inventor,  has  adopted  a  diet  of  ten  ounces  of 
food  a  day,  instead  of  eighteen  or  twenty 
ounces  as  formerly,  as  decidedly  the  best  suited 
to  yield  the  maximum  of  health  and  efficiency. 
He  says  experience  has  shown  him  that  a  man 

314 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        315 

of  keen  intellect  and  many  ideas  loses  ground 
by  overworking  his  digestive  apparatus.  Al- 
though just  past  sixty-seven,  he  says  that  this 
change  of  diet  is  making  a  new  man  of  him. 

The  health  of  many  people  would  be  in- 
finitely improved,  their  efficiency  would  be 
doubled,  and  the  years  of  their  life  would  be 
greatly  increased,  by  a  diet  suited  to  their  age, 
temperament,  constitution,  occupation,  and 
life  habits.  There  is  no  doubt  that  many 
elderly  people  who  feel  their  powers  declining 
could  largely  banish  the  symptoms  of  decrepi- 
tude and  freshen  and  rejuvenate  themselves  by 
adopting  a  scientific  diet  and  regulating  the 
quantity  to  suit  their  needs. 

After  fifty  people  do  not  require  nearly  as 
much  food  as  when  the  body  was  growing. 
The  life  processes  are  more  sluggish  and 
changes  are  fewer.  The  balance  of  atrophy 
and  repair  is  about  equal  throughout  the  physi- 
cal system,  and  as  a  natural  consequence  there 
is  a  diminishing  power  of  assimilation.  The 
demand  is  for  repair,  for  maintenance,  and  not 
for  growth  as  in  earlier  years,  and  for  this 
reason  but  little  food  is  needed. 

Some  elderly  people  have  an  abnormal  crav- 


316  Keeping  Fit 


ing  for  food  which  is  not  necessary.  They  ac- 
quire this  craving  just  as  others  acquire  a  crav- 
ing for  intoxicating  liquor  or  for  various  drugs. 
We  often  see  people  along  in  years  who  are 
inactive  and  yet  who  are  prodigious  eaters,  be- 
cause they  have  slowly  acquired  the  overeating 
habit.  They  will  eat  four  or  five  times  as  much 
food  as  they  need,  and  they  are  often  ineffi- 
cient and  indolent,  because  of  the  deteriorating 
effects  which  inevitably  follow  such  excess. 
Their  energies  are  largely  used  up  in  taking 
care  of  the  useless  and  injurious  food  with 
which  they  overload  their  stomachs. 

There  is  nothing  else  for  which  many  women 
will  pay  so  much  in  money  or  physical  suffer- 
ing as  to  get  rid  of  the  evidences  of  age.  They 
have  a  perfect  horror  of  growing  fat,  or  of 
losing  their  symmetry  of  figure,  yet  thou- 
sands eat  their  good  looks  and  their  graceful 
figures  away, — make  themselves  coarse,  un- 
sightly, and  animal-like  by  their  overeating 
habits. 

It  is  bad  enough  for  men  to  gorge  them- 
selves, but  a  habit  of  overeating  often  destroys 
the  delicacy  and  refinement  which  form  so 
great  a  charm  in  women.    It  is  pathetic  to  see 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        317 

these  women  who  cannot  restrain  their  appe- 
tites crowding  our  beauty  parlors,  trying  to 
get  back  their  youth  by  all  sorts  of  devices,  and 
appliances,  such  as  cosmetics  and  massage, 
while  all  the  time  they  are  doing  the  very  things 
which  tend  to  hasten  old  age. 

Mrs.  Edison,  who  followed  the  example  of 
her  distinguished  husband  in  reducing  the 
quantity  of  his  food,  says  of  her  first  experi- 
ences, "Gracious,  how  I  did  want  to  eat  one  of 
those  old-fashioned,  sleep-producing  feasts! 
There  were  times  when  I  am  quite  sure  I  could 
have  eaten  nine  or  ten  pounds  of  food.  But 
I  did  not.     .     .     . 

"If  I  had  gone  back  to  the  old  three  meals- 
a-day,  eat-all-you-wish  plan,  I  am  sure  by  this 
time  I  would  weigh  at  least  three  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds ;  I  stuck  to  the  ten-ounce  diet  and 
felt  better,  slept  better,  thought  more  clearly, 
and  was  twice  as  active." 

If  some  of  those  ladies  who  are  seeking  youth 
in  beauty  parlors  would  adopt  Mrs.  Edison's 
regimen,  they  would  be  astonished  at  the  re- 
sults. Of  course  the  ten-ounce  limit  would 
have  to  be  varied  according  to  individual  needs ; 
but  the  plan  of  choosing  one's  food  according 


318  Keeping  Fit 


to  its  nourishing  properties  and  the  require- 
ments of  the  body  should  be  a  life  rule,  ad- 
hered to  in  youth  as  well  as  in  advancing 
years. 

Such  a  rule  is  most  imperative  in  the  case 
of  elderly  people,  for  their  digestive  organs  are 
not  quite  so  capable  as  when  younger  of  tak- 
ing care  of  large  quantities  or  many  kinds  of 
food.  They  do  not  assimilate  so  readily  as  in 
youth,  because  of  the  diminishing  vigor  of  their 
cell  life  generally  and  of  their  less  active  habits. 
The  danger  they  run  is  further  greatly  in- 
creased because  their  systems  are  not  able  to 
recuperate  as  quickly  as  formerly.  The  chemi- 
cal changes  in  the  body  are  not  quite  so  active 
or  vigorous  in  advanced  years,  and  unless  one 
lives  scientifically  more  poisons  are  generated 
in  the  tissues  than  can  be  thrown  off,  and  the 
presence  of  these  poisons  is  liable  to  cause 
all  sorts  of  trouble,  such  as  rheumatism  and 
gout. 

Where  the  life  habits  are  not  regular  and 
healthful  there  is  more  or  less  chronic  poison- 
ing in  the  tissues  due  to  the  less  effective  elim- 
inating processes.  The  kidneys,  which  are  the 
great  poison  eliminators,  become  a  little  more 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        319 

sluggish;  a  little  more  toxic  waste  is  retained 
in  the  system,  which  circulates  throughout  the 
body,  leaving  its  deteriorating  effects  in  all  of 
the  tissues  that  it  visits. 

Those  who  wish  to  carry  their  vigor  and 
youthfulness  beyond  the  old-time  boundary  of 
threescore  and  ten  years  should  make  a  study 
of  physiology.  They  will  then  realize  that  they 
cannot  take  the  same  risks  in  overeating,  over- 
exertion, or  other  forms  of  irregular  living,  as 
when  in  their  prime.  They  will  know  that  they 
do  not  have  quite  their  earlier  resisting  power 
and  are  not  as  capable  of  protecting  them- 
selves from  the  results  of  bad  habits;  that,  in 
case  disease  should  attack  them,  they  would 
not  have  the  same  chance  of  throwing  it  off, 
as  when  they  were  younger  and  more  robust. 
They  will  realize  that  they  incur  greater  risk 
when  they  violate  Nature's  laws  because  they 
have  less  reserve  with  which  to  parry  attacks, 
to  resist  their  physical  enemies;  that  the  dis- 
ease germs,  which  were  powerless  to  get  hold  of 
them  when  they  had  more  resisting  power,  be- 
come more  dangerous  as  they  advance  in  years 
and  have  not  the  same  reparative,  recuperative, 
building-up  power. 


320  Keeping  Fit 


They  will  also  realize  the  power  of  damaging 
mental  influences,  such  as  fear,  worry,  anger, 
jealousy,  etc.  In  other  words,  they  will  learn 
to  avoid  the  mental  and  physical  enemies  which 
hasten  the  degenerative  processes  all  through 
the  system,  and  rob  both  body  and  mind  of 
their  God-given  power  and  usefulness.  Many 
people  who  are  afflicted  with  the  settled  de- 
spondency of  mental  depression  are  simply 
poisoned  by  intestinal  putrefaction.  Chronic 
headaches  often  accompany  such  mental  de- 
pression, and  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  largely 
due  to  absorption  of  microbial  poisons  which 
affect  the  cell  life  of  the  tissues. 

The  greatest  scientists  now  think  that  these 
poisons  lessen  the  resistance  of  the  cells  and 
tend  to  hasten  senility.  They  regard  them  as 
the  greatest  enemies  of  health  and  longevity, 
and  the  cause  of  many  human  ills. 

The  main  thing  in  retarding  aging  processes 
is  to  keep  the  body  as  supple  and  pliant  as 
possible.  Nothing  else,  not  even  recreation  or 
exercise,  is  so  important  in  attaining  this  ob- 
ject as  the  food  we  eat.  Its  nature,  quantity, 
and  quality  have  everything  to  do  with  hasten- 
ing or  postponing  old  age. 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        321 

The  older  we  grow  the  simpler  should  be  our 
diet.  A  great  medical  authority  states  that  the 
more  nearly  it  is  reduced  to  bread  and  milk  and 
fruits  the  longer  will  a  person  live  and  enjoy 
good  health. 

Professor  Metchnikoff,  who  has  made  start- 
ling discoveries  regarding  the  causes  of  old  age 
and  how  to  retard  its  approach,  says  that  he 
limits  his  own  diet  practically  to  bread,  milk, 
chocolate,  and  vegetables.  He  thinks  that  but- 
termilk and  other  sour  milk  products  are  great 
aids  in  retarding  age-hastening  processes,  be- 
cause they  lessen  intestinal  putrefaction,  which 
poisons  the  system,  especially  after  the  life 
processes  begin  to  slow  down  and  the  resisting 
power  of  the  cells  is  diminished.  He  claims 
that  multitudes  of  people  are  gradually  poi- 
soned and  their  lives  thus  greatly  shortened 
by  the  presence  of  bacteria  in  the  alimentary 
canal;  that,  if  the  blood  could  be  kept  free 
from  these  old-age  germs,  we  would  live  much 
longer;  and  that  they  can  be  very  materially 
lessened  by  including  in  the  diet  some  form  of 
sour  milk.  He  highly  recommends  fresh  but- 
termilk. 

There  is  a  conflict  of  opinion  among  food 


322  Keeping  Fit 


authorities  as  to  the  value  of  a  milk  diet  for 
people  in  advancing  years.  Some  claim  that 
it  contains  too  much  fatty  matter;  that  it  is 
a  weak  brain  food,  and  that  it  also  has  too  much 
bone-building  material.  Milk,  as  a  food,  has 
many  advocates  and  many  opponents,  yet  it 
is  the  most  natural  nutriment  for  up-building 
and  maintaining  all  the  different  kinds  of  tis- 
sues in  the  body ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
it  contains  much  bony  material  which  is  neces- 
sary in  the  skeleton-building  of  the  young,  yet 
it  is  such  a  simple  article  of  diet  that  in  most 
cases  it  agrees  perfectly  with  elderly  people. 

If  meats  are  eaten  by  people  getting  along 
in  years,  they  should  choose  the  flesh  of  young 
animals,  like  chickens,  lambs,  or  calves,  for  that 
is  not  so  rich  in  nitrogenous  substances  as  the 
red  meats,  such  as  beef,  which  contain  not  only 
more  nitrogen,  but  also  more  earthy  salts.  As 
a  rule,  elderly  people  should  eat  sparingly  of 
red  meats.  They  should  not  eat  foods  which 
contain  a  large  amount  of  the  hardening  earthy 
salts,  which  not  only  stiffen  the  tissues  but  also 
make  them  brittle.  They  also  very  materially 
weaken  the  walls  of  the  arteries. 

Anything  which  tends  to  make  the  muscles 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        323 


rigid,  which  makes  one's  body  tense  and  heavy, 
hastens  the  coming  of  old  age. 

An  aging  body  does  not  grow  stiff  and  hard, 
does  not  lose  its  elasticity  and  its  suppleness 
so  rapidly  when  nourished  by  milk,  eggs,  fruit, 
and  vegetables,  especially  if  well  masticated 
and  well  digested,  as  on  a  nitrogenous  diet. 
Meats  in  excess,  particularly  the  red  meats, 
and  other  foods  which  cause  the  greatest 
amount  of  intestinal  putrefaction,  are  espe- 
cially injurious  to  people  past  middle  life. 
Too  much  meat,  particularly  red  meat,  causes 
an  excess  of  uric  acid  in  the  system. 

There  is  great  food  value  in  eggs  for  people 
over  fifty.  Sara  Bernhardt  attributes  much  of 
her  youthfulness  to  the  fact  that  she  eats  about 
a  dozen  or  more  every  day. 

Milk  puddings,  broth  and  dairy  foods  are 
also  good.  So  are  Indian  meal  products,  either 
in  porridge,  corn  bread,  or  brown  bread.  Fruit 
is  a  most  excellent  diet  for  people  past  fifty, 
because  the  fruit  juices  are  great  solvents  of 
the  excess  of  bony  material  which  has  been  ab- 
sorbed by  the  various  tissues  from  food  and 
water,  especially  from  water  which  has  a  large 
amount  of  lime  and  other  earthy  salts.  Lemons 


324  Keeping  Fit 


are  very  beneficial  when  eaten  with  meat, 
vegetables,  etc.  They  are  especially  good  for 
the  liver,  and  are  cleansing  to  the  blood.  I 
know  people  getting  along  in  years  who  eat  one 
or  two  every  day  and  receive  great  benefit  from 
them. 

Condiments  which  are  more  or  less  irritat- 
ing, like  pepper,  salt,  ginger,  mustard,  also  rich 
sauces  should  be  used  sjDaringly.  People  who 
use  an  excessive  amount  of  pepper  are  likely 
to  have  liver  trouble.  Too  much  vinegar  is 
also  bad  for  elderly  people. 

Graham  bread  and  whole  wheat  products 
disturb  the  digestion  less  than  white  flour  prod- 
ucts, and  are  not  so  great  a  tax  upon  the  sys- 
tem. Starchy  foods  make  the  muscles  and 
joints  stiff  in  advancing  years,  and,  therefore, 
should  be  used  as  little  as  possible. 

The  great  point  for  people  getting  along  in 
years  is  to  avoid  foods  which  tend  to  harden 
and  stiffen  the  tissues.  They  should  eat  the 
softer,  simpler  foods.  Much  of  that  harden- 
ing, stiffening,  wrinkled  appearance  in  elderly 
people  is  caused  by  overeating,  eating  the 
wrong  kinds  of  food,  or  other  vicious  table 
habits. 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        325 

One  of  the  great  dangers  of  overeating  is 
that  it  tends  to  produce  too  great  blood  pres- 
sure, which  is  liable  to  rupture  the  smaller  ar- 
teries, especially  in  the  brain,  the  walls  of  which 
have  become  brittle  from  the  effects  of  the 
gradual  deposits  of  earthy  salts  from  the  food 
and  drink.  The  walls  of  the  arteries  in  elderly 
people  are  often  much  weakened  by  such  de- 
posits. Many  cases  which  have  passed  as  heart 
failures  were  really  due  to  the  rupturing  of 
arterial  walls  thus  weakened. 

This  is  one  reason  why  it  is  so  important 
that  drinking-water  should  be  as  nearly  ab- 
solutely pure  as  possible,  because  pure  water 
is  of  great  help  in  dissolving  and  washing  out 
of  the  system  the  excess  of  all  earthy  deposits 
which  come  from  food  and  which  are  not  re- 
quired after  the  skeleton  is  completely  ma- 
tured. 

Some  people  do  better  on  two  meals  a  day 
as  they  advance  in  years,  while  others  find  they 
do  better  to  eat  less  at  a  meal,  but  oftener. 
Their  digestive  apparatus  is  disturbed  less  by 
eating  several  times  daily,  but  not  much  at  a 
time. 

The  individual  constitution,  occupation,  and 


326  Keeping  Fit 


general  habits  of  life  play  a  large  part  in  de- 
ciding how  much,  how  often,  and  what  kind 
of  food  to  eat  late  in  life. 

The  famous  Venetian  nobleman,  Louis 
Cornaro,  who  lived  to  the  age  of  one  hundred 
and  three,  when  at  Mr.  Edison's  present  age 
(sixty-seven),  took  twelve  ounces  of  solid  and 
fourteen  ounces  of  liquid  food  each  day.  At 
ninety-five  he  wrote,  "I  eat  very  little  because 
my  stomach  is  delicate,  and  abstain  from  cer- 
tain dishes  because  they  do  not  agree  with  me." 

From  bitter  experience  Cornaro  had  learned 
the  great  importance  of  a  proper  diet  (espe- 
cially a  very  simple  one),  in  keeping  the  body 
young  and  healthy.  Before  forty  he  had  be- 
come so  diseased  because  of  excesses  that  his 
life  was  despaired  of.  He  recovered,  however ; 
and,  although  he  was  constitutionally  weak  and 
had  poor  digestive  powers,  by  strict  attention 
to  his  diet  and  regular  habits  he  reached  a 
cheerful  old  age  and  maintained  his  usefulness 
and  youthful  spirits  to  the  last.  When  nearly 
one  hundred  he  wrote:  "Great  age  may  be  so 
useful  and  agreeable  that  I  believe  I  would 
have  been  wanting  in  charity  had  I  not  taken 
pains  to  point  out  by  what  means  men  may 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        327 


prolong  their  days;  and,  as  each  can  boast  a 
happiness  all  his  own,  I  shall  not  cease  to  say, 
Live,  live  long/' 

Elderly  people  should  be  careful  not  to  put 
an  unnecessary  work  on  their  digestive  or- 
gans. They  should  eat  slowly  and  take  pains 
to  masticate  their  food  thoroughly  in  order  to 
assist  as  much  as  possible  its  rapid  assimilation 
and  digestion. 

Horace  Fletcher,  who  introduced  the  new 
cult  in  eating  known  as  "fletcherizing,"  claims 
that  by  properly  masticating  our  food  both 
young  and  old  can  greatly  reduce  the  amount 
they  eat  and  be  all  the  better  and  stronger 
for  it. 

Mr.  Fletcher  was  refused  life  insurance  at 
fifty  on  account  of  the  condition  of  his  health. 
He  had  been  an  active  business  man  up  to  that 
age  and  had  not  thought  much  about  diet  or 
health.  But  then  he  was  obliged  to  study 
methods  by  which  to  regain  the  latter.  He 
found  that  his  run-down  condition  was  due  to 
poor  assimilation  and  digestion ;  that  he  ate  too 
rapidly,  and  did  not  properly  masticate  his 
food.  He  began  to  chew  every  mouthful  slowly 
and  thoroughly.    He  found  that  his  food  tasted 


328  Keeping  Fit 


better,  and  that  he  did  not  require  nearly  so 
much  as  before.  His  health  improved  steadily. 
He  kept  on  fletcherizing,  and  within  a  com- 
paratively few  years  he  had  cut  his  weight 
down  sixty  pounds  and  had  doubled  his  capac- 
ity for  work.  It  was  found  that  he  could  out- 
do young  trained  college  athletes  in  lifting  and 
throwing  heavy  weights.  He  was  a  perfectly 
well  man.  Eight  years  after  the  insurance 
companies  had  refused  to  take  any  risks  on 
his  life,  he  was  enjoying  robust  health  and  was 
more  vigorous  than  he  had  ever  been  before. 
Certain  colleges  took  up  fletcherizing  and 
made  scientific  experiments.  Classes  of  young 
men  at  Yale,  Harvard,  and  West  Point  were 
taken  under  observation.  They  were  not  re- 
stricted in  their  diet  but  were  simply  told  to 
fletcherize.  Instead  of  taking  twenty  minutes 
to  a  meal  as  formerly,  they  took  forty.  In  a 
very  short  time  it  was  found  that  the  quantity 
they  ate  was  much  reduced,  while  in  every  case 
both  their  mental  and  physical  powers  were  in- 
creased. At  the  close  of  three  days  of  fletcher- 
izing those  young  men  refused  meat  at  break- 
fast, then  eggs.  A  dish  of  some  kind  of  cereal, 
with  berries,  or  other  fruit,  a  little  dry  toast. 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        329 

and  one  small  cup  of  coffee  fully  satisfied  their 
appetites. 

It  is  certainly  worth  while  for  those  past 
fifty,  if  they  have  not  taken  it  up  before,  to 
give  fletcherizing  a  trial.  If  they  do  they  will 
be  in  no  danger  of  overloading  the  stomach,  or 
of  eating  too  many  kinds  of  food  at  once,  es- 
pecially rich  foods,  which  are  so  injurious  in 
advancing  years. 

If  there  is  any  one  thing  that  a  person  get- 
ting on  in  years  should  learn  it  is  how  to  retard 
the  aging  processes, — ^not  only  how  to  prolong 
his  years,  but  how  to  do  so  with  the  least  pos- 
sible mental  or  physical  deterioration. 

One  reason  why  it  is  so  difficult  for  people 
past  fifty  to  get  positions  is  their  senile  appear- 
ance. Many  of  them  are  hard  and  dried  up, 
and  employers  naturally  take  it  for  granted 
that  their  ideas,  also,  are  dried  up  and  anti- 
quated or  even  petrified.  Bad  dietetic  habits 
are  responsible  for  much  of  the  unfortimate 
conditions  which  gray  hairs  seeking  a  job  have 
to  meet  to-day. 

Professor  Metchnikoff,  perhaps  the  world's 
greatest  authority  on  the  subject,  believes  that 
the  most  distressing  symptoms  of  old  age,  de- 


330  Keeping  Fit 


crepitude  and  feebleness  are  caused  by  poi- 
sons from  the  fermentation  and  putrefaction 
of  excessive  food,  from  that  which  is  imper- 
fectly digested  because  of  mental  disturbance, 
such  as  worry,  fear,  anxiety,  jealousy,  or  from 
that  which  is  not  adapted  to  the  requirements 
of  the  various  tissues.  He  also  claims  that  old 
age  is  very  materially  hastened,  in  perhaps  the 
majority  of  cases,  by  overeating;  not  only  be- 
cause of  the  consequent  poisoning  of  the  sys- 
tem, but  also  on  account  of  the  tremendous 
waste  of  energy  and  vitality  in  trying  to  dis- 
pose of  this  dangerous  excess  of  nutriment,  a 
waste  which  the  body  can  ill  afford  because  of 
its  lessened  power  to  generate  new  life  force. 

Longevity  is  largely  dependent  upon  the 
scientific  choice  and  eating  of  food  and  upon 
scientific  health  habits, — temperance  in  all 
things, — and  yet  every  day  of  our  lives  most 
of  us  violate  all  of  these  principles.  We  eat 
foods  which  poison  us,  or  do  not  nourish  us, 
but  which  we  happen  to  have  been  "brought 
up"  on.  In  other  words,  we  violate  every 
health  law,  every  scientific  health  principle,  and 
yet  we  cling  to  life  with  all  the  desperation  of 
a  drowning  man  grasping  a  bit  of  driftwood. 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        331 


While  it  is  absolutely  essential  to  health  and 
long  life  to  obey  the  laws  of  nature  and  take 
proper  care  of  our  bodies,  yet  here  again  the 
effect  of  one's  state  of  mind  is  preeminent.  If 
you  have  constantly  held  the  idea  or  mental 
picture  that  you  will  begin  to  show  the  marks 
of  age  at  about  fifty,  that  at  sixty  you  will 
lose  the  power  of  your  faculties  and  most  of 
your  interest  in  life,  and  that  then  you  will  be- 
come practically  useless  and  have  to  retire 
from  your  business  or  profession,  and  there- 
after continue  to  decline  until  you  are  cut  off 
entirely,  there  is  no  system  of  diet  or  exer- 
cise, no  matter  how  scientific,  no  rules  of  life, 
however  healthful,  that  can  keep  the  old-age 
processes  and  signs  from  developing  in  you. 

Old  age  begins  in  the  mind.  The  expression 
of  age  in  the  body  is  the  harvest  of  old-age 
ideas  which  have  been  planted  in  the  mind. 
We  see  others  about  our  age  beginning  to  de- 
cline and  show  marks  of  decrepitude,  and  we 
imagine  it  is  about  time  for  us  to  show  the 
same  signs.  Ultimately  we  do  show  them,  be- 
cause we  think  they  are  inevitable.  But  they 
are  only  inevitable  because  of  our  old-age  men- 
tal attitude  and  race-habit  beliefs. 


332  Keeping  Fit 


If  we  actually  refuse  to  grow  old;  if  we 
insist  on  retaining  youthful  ideas  and  thinking 
young,  hopeful,  buoyant  thoughts,  the  marks 
of  senility  will  not  show  themselves  nearly  so 
early. 

No  other  scientific  problem  is  attracting 
more  attention  to-day  than  the  achievement 
of  long  life,  with  continued  activity  and  use- 
fulness to  the  end.  A  new  set  of  specialists, 
who  might  be  called  life  prolongers,  is  spring- 
ing up  in  all  parts  of  the  world — specialists 
who  believe  that  man  not  only  ought  to  live 
from  a  quarter  to  a  third  longer  than  he  now 
does,  but  also  that  decrepit  old  age,  as  now 
known,  is  unnecessary.  They  are  unanimous, 
too,  in  their  belief  in  the  overwhelming  influ- 
ence of  the  mind  on  the  body,  of  the  power  of 
mind  over  matter. 

"Let  thine  heart  keep  my  commandments: 
for  length  of  days,  and  long  life,  and  peace 
shall  they  add  to  thee,"  says  Solomon. 

The  Bible  is  full  of  such  promises  of  long 
life  and  peace,  or  happiness  to  those  who  obey 
God's  laws,  which  are  also  Nature's  laws. 

In  fact,  the  whole  spirit  of  the  Bible  is  to 
encourage  long  life  through  sane  and  health- 


What  to  Eat  after  Fifty        333 

ful  living.  It  points  to  the  duty  of  living  a 
useful  and  noble  life  and  of  making  as  much 
of  ourselves  as  possible,  all  of  which  tends  to 
prolong  our  years  on  earth. 

At  your  age 
The  hey-day  in  the  blood  is  tame,  it's  humble, 
And  waits  upon  the  judgment. — Shakespeare. 

But  an  old  age,  serenely  bright. 
And  lovely  as  a  Lapland  night 
Shall  lead  thee  to  thy  grave. 

— ^William  Wordsworth. 


XV 

MASTERFULNESS  AND  THE  GREAT  OUT  OF  DOORS 

Make  good  thy  standing-ground  and  move  the  world. 

— Goethe. 

O  what  a  glory  doth  this  world  put  on 
To  him  who,  with  a  fervent  heart,  goes  forth 
Under  the  bright  and  glorious  sky,  and  looks 
On  duties  well  performed,  and  days  well  spent! 

— H.  W.  Longfellow. 

"I  WOULD  rank  exercise  and  outdoor  life  far 
above  any  known  remedies  for  the  cure  of 
disease,"  says  Dr.  Austin  Flint. 

I  would  go  further  and  say  that  rational  ex- 
ercise and  outdoor  life  are  the  best  conservers 
of  health  and  prevention  of  disease. 

The  polar  bear  "Peary"  died  recently  in  the 
Bronx  Zoological  Garden,  New  York,  from 
heart  disease.  Imprisoned  wild  animals  fre- 
quently die  of  fatty  degeneration  of  the  heart, 
due  to  lack  of  exercise  in  their  captivity. 

The  more  wild  and  savage  they  are,  the 
more  they  struggle  against  this  fate.  Watch 
a  newly  caged  lion,  or  even  the  average  lion 

334 


Masterfulness  335 

of  a  menagerie,  as  he  paces  restlessly  and,  in 
his  waking  hours,  ceaselessly  to  and  fro,  fre- 
quently lashing  his  tail.  He  is  instinctively 
seeking,  not  merely  to  be  free,  but  even  more 
to  find  relief  from  a  feeling  of  oppression  that 
tugs  at  his  throat  and  lungs  and  heart,  from 
lack  of  the  customary  strong,  full  aeration  of 
his  blood  through  the  600,000,000  cells  of  his 
lungs.  But  for  this  protective  restlessness  he 
would  die  much  more  quickly.  Note  how  per- 
sistently a  squirrel  fights  against  this  oppres- 
sion, if  given  a  revolving  wheel  in  which  to 
exercise.  He  is  not  working  so  hard  purely 
from  love  of  sport.  Activity  is  part  and  par- 
cel of  his  natural  life;  and,  when  he  is  con- 
fined, the  instinct  which  prompts  to  activity 
becomes  almost  a  mania  with  him  as  he  urges 
the  frenzied  whirl  of  his  so-called  "merry-go- 
round,"  which  is  really  but  a  prisoner's  tread- 
mill to  him.  Monkeys  are  incessantly  active 
when  first  captured  and  confined ;  but,  as  they 
grow  "tamer,"  they  become  more  "quiet,"  and 
soon  die  of  tuberculosis.  The  monkey  of  the 
hand  organ,  with  the  partial  liberty  of  a  string 
and  his  consequently  more  extensive  and  more 
varied  pranks,  outlives  the  monkey  of  the  cage, 


336  Keeping  Fit 


if  both  are  fed  alike.  Sluggish,  cold-blooded 
animals  suffer  least  from  lack  of  opportunity 
to  exercise  in  captivity,  and  as  a  rule  survive 
it  best.  But  man  is  not  by  nature  either  slug- 
gish or  cold-blooded,  and  so  suffers  greatly 
from  much  confinement. 

How  often  we  hear  of  the  death  of  business 
and  professional  men  from  similar  causes.  The 
trouble  with  many  of  them  is  that  they  do  not 
get  enough  exercise  to  eliminate  the  worn-out, 
dead  cells  and  other  refuse  matter  flowing  in 
the  blood,  and  the  fat  cells  which  accumulate 
in  heavy  eaters  and  in  people  of  sedentary 
habits. 

It  is  estimated  that  a  day's  work  in  the  tem- 
perate zones  consumes  about  160  grammes  of 
combustible  foods.  For  this  burning,  three 
and  one-half  times  as  much  oxygen  is  required, 
some  560  grammes,  or  nearly  twenty  ounces. 
Such  an  amount  of  oxygen  is  furnished  by 
about  5,000  quarts  of  winter  air  at  zero,  the 
amount  of  air  necessary  increasing  with  the 
temperature  up  to  ten  times  5,000  quarts,  or 
50,000  on  a  very  hot  summer  day  or  in  the 
tropics.  We  are  not  equipped  to  breathe 
50,000  quarts  of  air  during  a  day's  work,  hence 


Masterfulness  337 


in  very  hot  weather  we  must  for  safety  exer- 
cise less  and  so  try  to  consume  less  carbon ;  but 
in  ordinary  or  in  low  temperatures  we  have  no 
difficulty  in  breathing  the  necessary  amount  of 
air.  The  less  air  we  breathe,  the  less  hydro- 
carbon we  should  consume,  relying  more  for 
nutriment  upon  fruits  and  succulent  vege- 
tables. But,  if  we  will  eat  sugar,  starches,  etc., 
and  most  people  eat  more  of  them  than  neces- 
sity requires,  we  must  either  exercise  enough 
and  breathe  fresh  air  enough  for  their  proper 
combustion,  or  suffer  from  the  injurious  prod- 
ucts of  their  partial  combustion.  Free  burn- 
ing of  wood  produces  white  ashes,  while  re- 
stricted or  incomplete  burning  produces  black 
charcoal.  Some  of  the  products,  respectively, 
of  complete  and  incomplete  combustion  of  hy- 
drocarbons in  man  differ  as  strikingly  in 
appearance  and  characteristics. 

We  have  all  noticed  how  much  more  viva- 
cious, how  much  more  alive  and  active  we  are, 
how  much  more  alert  our  brains  are,  and  how 
much  clearer  and  swifter  are  our  thoughts, 
when  we  take  a  great  deal  of  wholesome  exer- 
cise out  of  doors. 

"If  I  were  seriously  ill  of  consumption," 


338  Keeping  Fit 


says  Dr.  Marshall  Hall,  "I  would  live  outdoors 
day  and  night,  except  in  rainy  weather  or  mid- 
winter; then  I  would  sleep  in  an  unplastered 
log  house.  Physic  has  no  nutriment,  gasping 
for  air  cannot  cure  you,  monkey  capers  in  a 
gjTiinasium  cannot  cure  you,  and  stimulants 
cannot  cure  you.  What  consumptives  want  is 
pure  air,  not  physic, — pure  air,  not  medicated 
air, — plenty  of  meat  and  plenty  of  bread." 

As  a  rule,  people  in  moderate  circumstances 
enjoy  better  health  and  are  stronger  than  the 
rich,  because  they  get  more  and  better  exercise. 

When  a  man  becomes  prosperous  he  begins 
to  ride  to  his  office  instead  of  walking.  He  is 
tempted  to  take  the  line  of  least  resistance,  be- 
cause he  can  afford  to.  As  a  rule,  he  not  only 
gets  less  exercise,  but  he  also  eats  more  and 
richer  food  and  in  greater  variety.  He  be- 
comes a  victim  of  overeating  and  underexer- 
cising,  and  takes  on  burdensome  flesh  from  his 
inactivity  and  high  living. 

It  is  said  that  the  majority  of  rich  men  have 
more  or  less  fatty  hearts,  weak  hearts,  because 
of  the  changing,  through  self-indulgence,  of 
the  muscle  cells  to  fat  cells,  so  that  the  heart 
does  not  have  the  power  to  force  the  blood 


Masterfulness  339 


J 


through   the   millions    of    capillaries    in    the 
system. 

While  the  automobile  has  been  a  great  boon  ^ 
in  a  multitude  of  ways,  it  has  proved  a  curse    / 
to  thousands  of  men  who  are  tempted  to  ride  / 
when  they  know  it  would  be  infinitely  better  \^ 
for  them  to  walk.    What  would  be  a  blessing 
if  rightly  used  only  shortens  their  lives  by  de- 
priving them  of  necessary  exercise. 

I  know  a  very  rich  man  in  New  York  who 
says  he  has  been  obliged,  for  the  sake  of  his 
health,  to  discharge  his  chauffeur,  and  put 
away  his  expensive  cars,  because  he  found  the 
automobile  habit  was  growing  upon  him  to 
such  an  extent  that  he  was  getting  scarcely 
any  exercise  and  consequently  was  putting  on 
flesh  so  rapidly  that  he  actually  became  fright- 
ened. Instead  of  walking  six  or  eight  miles 
a  day,  as  he  used  to  do  before  he  had  a  car,  he 
was  scarcely  walking  at  all. 

His  wife  was  falling  into  about  the  same 
condition.  Having  four  or  five  luxurious  cars 
and  several  chauffeurs  constantly  at  her  dis- 
posal, if  she  were  only  going  two  or  three 
blocks  from  her  home  she  would  order  one  of 
the  cars,  and  so  got  practically  no  exercise. 


340  Keeping  Fit 


We  are  constructed  for  the  simple  life. 
Many  rich  people  do  not  realize  this,  and  seem 
to  think  that  the  way  to  get  the  most  out  of 
their  money  is  constantly  to  surfeit  themselves 
with  all  the  good  things  that  they  can  get  hold 
of.  They  imagine  that  happiness  consists  in 
the  indulgence  of  their  appetites.  They  are 
constantly  deteriorating  physically,  mentally, 
and  morally,  because  they  kve  violating  the 
very  laws  of  their  nature ;  because  they  do  not 
understand  that  self-mastery,  not  self-indul- 
gence, leads  to  health  and  happiness. 

No  one  can  be  vigorous  and  strong  with- 
out a  great  deal  of  open-air  exercise.  There 
are  thousands  of  women  invalids  or  semi-in- 
valids, always  ailing,  who  would  be  completely 
revolutionized  by  a  brisk  five-mile  walk  every 
day.  Instead  of  picking  away  at  meals  with 
no  appetite,  trying  to  find  some  little  delicacy 
they  can  eat,  they  would  come  home  from  their 
long  walk  ravenously  hungry,  ready  to  eat  any- 
thing set  before  them.  A  poor  appetite  often 
means  lack  of  exercise. 

There  is  no  substitute  for  such  exercise  as 
brisk  walking  in  the  open  air  with  the  accom- 
paniment of  cheerful  thinking. 


Masterfulness  341 

Business  men  who  live  within  a  mile  or  two 
of  their  stores  or  offices  would  find  themselves 
invigorated  for  their  day's  work,  and  would 
keep  in  much  better  health,  if  they  would  walk 
to  these  places,  at  least  in  the  morning,  instead 
of  riding. 

Many  a  man  comes  back  to  the  city  from 
his  vacation  feeling  fresh,  strong,  and  vigor- 
ous, but  very  soon  begins  to  grow  languid  and 
sluggish.  He  mopes  about  and  becomes  frac- 
tious, irritable,  touchy. 

While  he  was  in  the  country  he  took  plenty 
of  exercise,  golfing,  and  tramping  over  the 
hills  and  meadows  and  mountains,  and  this 
vigorous  exercise  in  the  open  air  burned  up  all 
the  effete  matter  which  had  accumulated  in  the 
tissues  of  his  body  during  his  previous  seden- 
tary life  in  the  city.  His  blood  w^as  of  a  better 
quality  in  the  country  because  it  had  more  oxy- 
gen in  it,  and  the  constant  exercise  of  his  mus- 
cles forced  out  all  the  poisonous,  worn-out  cells 
in  the  different  tissues  of  the  body,  so  that  he 
was  really  a  new  man,  fresh,  vigorous,  and 
strong. 

But  when  he  returned  to  the  city  he  dropped 
most  of  his  outdoor  exercise,  depending  upon 


342  Keeping  Fit 


his  vacation  to  carry  him  through  the  remain- 
der of  the  year,  spending  not  more  than  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes  at  his  luncheon,  going  home 
late  and  eating  a  hearty  dinner,  with  very  lit- 
tle exercise  out  of  doors  afterward,  having  a 
troubled  sleep  and  waking  up  in  the  morning 
with  the  same  old  heaviness  and  tired  feeling 
to  which  he  was  accustomed  before  he  went 
away. 

In  other  words,  this  man  does  not  live  nor- 
mally in  the  city.  He  does  not  take  enough 
outdoor  exercise  to  cause  thorough  oxygena- 
tion of  his  blood.  The  poisonous  matter  re- 
mains in  the  brain  cells,  nerve  cells,  and  other 
tissues  of  the  body,  and  he  not  only  does  not 
feel  as  well,  but  his  faculties  are  not  as  keen 
and  sharp  as  when  he  was  in  the  country.  He 
cannot  think  so  well.  His  ideas  are  not  clean- 
cut. 

There  is  nothing  else  to  do,  my  friend,  when 
you  begin  to  mope  around,  to  feel  irritable  and 
cross,  when  your  brain  becomes  sluggish,  but 
to  get  out  of  doors.  Take  good,  long  walks. 
Go  to  a  gymnasium.  Take  a  half  hour  of 
vigorous  exercise,  a  sponge  bath  afterward, 
and  a  brisk  walk  home,  and  you  will  feel  like 
a  new  man. 


Masterfulness  343 

Most  men  who  under-exercise  overeat,  and 
the  body  cannot  take  care  of  the  food.  It  is 
not  properly  digested  or  assimilated. 

Many  a  man  in  middle  life  wonders  why  he 
cannot  work  with  his  old-time  vigor  and  fresh- 
ness, and  thinks  his  faculties  must  be  dete- 
riorating, when  all  he  needs  is  good,  vigorous 
exercise  in  the  open  air.  This  is  where  he 
will  find  the  man  he  once  was. 

"As  long  as  we  are  exposed  to  the  rays  of 
sunlight,"  says  Julius  Hensel,  "the  life  of  the 
nerves  strives  for  action ;  but,  when  the  sun  has 
disappeared  from  the  vault  of  heaven,  it  de- 
sires rest.  With  this  arrangement,  which 
requires  a  change  between  rest  and  activity,  we 
have  done  well  for  centuries.  But  now,  by 
means  of  the  electric  light,  we  turn  night  into 
day,  and  during  the  day  our  nervous  system  is 
moved,  not  only  by  what  takes  place  in  our 
nearest  surroundings,  but  the  newspapers  take 
care  that  the  calamities  from  all  cities  and 
countries  occupy  our  thoughts.  Telegrams  and 
telephonic  messages  prevent  our  nervous  sys- 
tem from  taking  rest.  Distances  of  time  and 
space  are  reduced  by  the  telegraph  and  the 
railroads.  With  such  ample  resources  men 
desire   to   accomplish   correspondingly   more 


344  Keeping  Fit 


than  in  former  times,  and  even  against  their 
will  they  are  drawn  into  the  general  whirl  of 
restless  activity.  The  surplusage  of  influ- 
encing factors  causes  a  constant  vibration  of 
the  nerves.  Man  cannot  withdraw  from  this, 
so  long  as  he  remains  wholly  within  his  busi- 
ness sphere.  I  therefore  know  of  no  other 
radical  remedy  for  nervousness  but  the  peace 
of  nature.  Out  into  the  country !  Out  on  the 
mountains !" 

No  matter  how  pressing  your  business  may 
be,  drop  everything,  get  out  of  doors  and  exer- 
cise in  the  open  air  every  day,  even  if  only  for 
a  short  time.  You  will  accomplish  a  great 
deal  more  during  the  year  if  you  do  this  than 
if  you  give  all  of  your  time  to  business.  You 
will  do  better  work.  You  will  not  make  so 
many  blunders  and  mistakes,  because  your 
brain  will  be  clearer,  your  faculties  sharper, 
your  thought  more  vigorous,  your  power  of 
concentration  greater. 

Some  people  are  afraid  of  inclement 
weather.  If  it  snows,  or  rains,  or  freezes,  they 
think  they  cannot  venture  out  of  doors.  But 
if  you  want  to  be  well  and  to  keep  well,  live 
an  outdoor  life.     Never  mind  the   weather. 


Masterfulness  345 

You  would  better  get  wet  occasionally  than 
get  no  outdoor  exercise.  Bad  weather  will  not 
hurt  you  if  you  get  plenty  of  exercise,  because 
you  will  have  the  power  of  resistance,  vigor  to 
throw  off  the  injurious  effects  which  inclement 
weather  might  have  on  the  weak  man  who  does 
not  take  daily  outdoor  exercise. 

In  the  matter  of  exercise,  as  in  everything 
else,  judgment  must  be  used  as  to  its  kind  and 
extent.  To  derive  any  benefit  from  it,  it  must 
be  graded  according  to  one's  physical  condi- 
tion. Exercise  in  excess,  instead  of  strength- 
ening the  body,  exhausts  it.  Persons  of  an 
excitable  temperament,  or  those  who  are  in 
delicate  health,  should  never  take  any  exciting 
exercise  after  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
Thin,  weakly  people  will  increase  in  weight 
and  strength  by  taking  light  exercise  daily, 
and  a  two-minute  tepid  sponge  bath,  followed 
by  a  ten-minute  rub  down  with  a  coarse  towel. 

Through  the  increased  activity  of  the  skin 
and  the  movement  of  the  muscles  and  deeper 
respiration,  vigorous  outdoor  exercise  increases 
very  materially  the  oxidation  of  the  tissues  and( 
accelerates  the  elimination  of  poisons  from  the 
body. 


346  Keeping  Fit 


Moderate  hill  climbing,  and  mountain 
climbing,  especially,  not  only  improves  and 
increases  the  oxidation  but  increases  the  num- 
ber and  depth  of  our  respirations.  Among 
people  who  live  much  in  the  open  air,  particu- 
larly in  mountainous  countries  of  sparse  popu- 
lation, where  the  air  is  peculiarly  pure,  as  in 
Norway  and  Switzerland  and  in  parts  of 
Scotland,  almost  all  the  girls  and  young 
women  have  fresh  rosy  cheeks.  We  all  know 
how  quickly  these  vanish  when  they  come  to 
this  country  and  live  in  our  city  slums,  and 
how  quickly  tuberculosis  and  other  diseases 
get  hold  of  them. 

In  vigorous  outdoor  exercise  we  are  com- 
pelled to  take  much  deeper,  longer  breaths, 
and  we  all  know  how  we  are  invigorated  by 
this  exercise.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  ordinary 
breathing  we  bring  only  a  very  small  part  of 
the  lungs  into  play;  the  apex  of  the  lungs  is 
not  filled  with  air.  The  result  is,  especially  in 
city  dwellers,  that  these  unopened  and  unexer- 
cised cells  are  filled  with  coal  dust  or  other  irri- 
tating particles,  and  a  chronic  inflammation  is 
set  up,  especially  where  there  is  any  tendency 
to  consumption. 


Masterfulness  347 

In  the  last  analysis,  we  really  live  upon  air. 
We  can  get  along  without  feeding  the  stomach 
for  thirty  or  forty  days,  perhaps  more,  but  we 
could  not  live  two  minutes  without  feeding  our 
lungs.  Hence  the  vast  importance  of  giving 
them  the  purest  kind  of  fresh  air. 

"Breathing  is  one  of  the  most  important  of 
all  features  of  child  training.  We  should  in- 
duce children  to  take  long  deep  breaths ;  make 
them  take  a  pride  in  swelling  the  upper  chest 
and  drawing  the  abdomen  in  and  out  while 
holding  the  breath.  The  breast-bone  of  a  child 
is  divided  into  eight  pieces,  and  is  soft,  so  that 
very  little  training  will  give  a  fine  full  chest 
to  a  youngster,  who  otherwise  might  grow  up 
flat-chested  and  weak.  Staying  power  is  di- 
rectly related  to  the  strength  of  the  lungs. 
There  can  be  but  little  endurance  in  a  weak- 
lunged  person." 

To  breathe  properly,  the  shoulders  should 
not  be  raised  during  inhalation ;  the  air  should 
be  slowly  drawn  into  every  quarter  of  the  lungs 
and  then  as  slowly  exhaled.  Try  this  breath- 
ing exercise:  Slowly  exhale  through  the  nos- 
trils until  the  lungs  are  almost  emptied.  Then 
slowly  inhale  until  the  lungs  are  full.     Hold 


348  Keeping  Fit 


the  breath  a  moment  and  then  as  slowly  exhale. 
This  may  cause  dizziness  at  first,  but  after  a  lit- 
tle practice  you  can  take  eight  or  ten  full 
breaths  with  ease.  You  will  find  that  this  exer- 
cise will  stimulate  health  as  no  other  physical 
exercise  will  do. 

Form  a  habit  of  taking  long  deep  breaths 
every  time  you  go  out  into  the  fresh  air,  throw- 
ing the  shoulders  back,  holding  the  head  up 
and  chin  in,  and  inhaling  slowly  until  you  feel 
the  stomach  distend  very  materially;  hold  the 
breath  a  few  seconds,  and  then  exhale  gently. 
This  one  habit  alone  would  be  a  great  health 
protection  to  people  who  are  confined  indoors. 

These  breathing  exercises  will  not  only  in- 
crease vitality,  but  will  prolong  life  very  ma- 
terially. Yet  most  people,  even  though  they 
know  the  great  benefit  of  deep  breathing,  are 
too  indolent  to  practise  it. 

Many  persons  are  only  half  alive  because 
they  do  not  know  how  to  breathe.  They  do  not 
inhale  enough  oxygen  to  give  that  abundant, 
bounding  life  which  belongs  to  the  man  who 
is  thoroughly  alive  in  every  atom  of  his  being, 

I  again  refer  to  the  purification  of  the  blood 
through  the  lungs,  because,  next  to  our  food. 


Masterfulness  349 

our  breathing  plays  the  most  important  part 
in  our  physical  well-being. 

All  the  venous  blood  of  the  body  is  pumped 
vigorously  and  constantly  from  the  heart, 
against  one  side  of  the  lung  surface;  on  the 
other  side  we  breathe  in  fresh  air,  and  through 
this  delicate  membrane  of  enormous  surface 
(more  than  twelve  hundred  square  feet  in 
adults),  an  almost  instantaneous  exchange  of 
the  life-giving  properties  of  the  oxygen  in  the 
air  for  poisonous  carbonic  acid  gas  takes  place, 
thus  transforming  blue  poisonous  venous  blood 
into  bright-red  arterial  blood.  This  transfor- 
mation goes  on  eighteen  or  twenty  times  a 
minute,  thus  showing  the  tremendous  impor- 
tance which  Nature  attaches  to  the  breathing 
processes. 

The  slouching,  stooping  habit,  contracted  by 
a  majority  of  those  working  over  desks  or  in 
cramped  positions,  reduces  their  lung  capacity 
so  much  that  their  ordinary  breathing  is  not 
deep  enough,  full  enough,  to  take  in  sufficient 
oxygen  to  completely  fill  the  enormous  lung 
surface  and  to  properly  aerate  the  blood. 

Try  the  experiment  of  compensating  for 
this  decreased  breathing,  if  your  occupation  or 


350  Keeping  Fit 


habits  tend  to  cut  it  off,  by  straightening  up 
whenever  it  is  possible  and  expanding  the 
kings. 

When  you  go  outdoors,  stand  perfectly 
erect,  throw  the  shoulders  back,  and  inhale  the 
pure  air  as  deeply  and  fully  as  possible.  While 
you  are  doing  this,  imagine  that  you  are  inhal- 
ing the  great  life  power  upon  which  all  achieve- 
ment and  all  action  depend.  Realize  that  you 
are  taking  in  that  great  mysterious  cosmic 
energy  which  is  the  secret  of  all  creative  power 
in  the  universe,  for  the  breathing  has  a  greater 
significance  than  the  mere  taking  in  of  the 
chemical  elements  contained  in  the  air.  It  is 
the  great  intake  power-process.  There  are 
subtler  forces  in  the  air  than  those  we  can 
analyze.  There  is  a  creative,  a  cosmic  god 
power,  a  divine  principle  involved  at  which  we 
are  just  beginning  to  guess. 

If  every  one  would  pay  proper  attention  to 
his  breathing,  and  would  sleep  out  of  doors, 
the  health  and  achievement  standard  of  civili- 
zation would  advance  by  leaps  and  bounds. 

Few  realize  the  health  possibilities  that  in- 
here in  correct  breathing,  even  when  the  lungs 
are  impaired.    Dr.  Hiram  Thomas,  with  one 


Masterfulness  351 

lung  gone,  so  developed  the  other  that  he 
preached  and  lectured  with  all  the  vocal  force 
of  a  whole  man. 

While  it  is  very  important  to  breathe 
through  the  nostrils  when  possible,  many  peo- 
ple who  have  some  obstruction  in  the  nostrils 
or  throat  injure  themselves  seriously  by  breath- 
ing altogether  in  this  way,  because  they  do  not 
draw  sufficient  air  into  the  lungs  to  secure 
proper  blood  aeration.  The  importance  of 
getting  a  large  supply  of  fresh  air  into  the 
lungs  very  much  overbalances  the  bad  effects 
of  breathing  through  the  mouth.  It  is  true 
that  mouth-breathing  dries  up  the  mucous 
membrane  somewhat,  but  the  imperative  thing 
is  to  get  plenty  of  fresh  air  into  the  lungs. 

No  human  being  should  live  in  a  closed 
steam-heated  or  furnace-heated  house  with  lit- 
tle or  no  outside  ventilation.  There  should  be 
a  free  circulation  of  air  through  our  homes  day 
and  night,  for  the  moment  we  enclose  air  in 
a  house  or  a  room  without  proper  ventilation 
it  begins  to  deteriorate,  to  absorb  poisons  ex- 
haled from  the  body.  The  life-giving  oxygen 
passes  out  of  it  very  quickly  unless  constantly 
fed  by  a  current  from  the  outside  air. 


352  Keeping  Fit 


People  who  live  in  close  houses,  who  sleep 
in  close  rooms,  soon  find  themselves  suffering 
from  poor  health  and  diminished  vitality. 
They  have  less  power  of  resistance,  so  that 
they  are  much  more  likely  to  contract  diseases, 
especially  diseases  of  the  respiratory  tract, 
like  pneumonia,  tonsillitis,  tuberculosis.  Every 
home  should  have  out-door  sleeping-rooms. 

Our  life,  our  vitality,  is  in  the  air  we  breathe ; 
and,  if  this  is  insufficient  or  vitiated,  we  suffer 
accordingly.  It  is  as  bad  to  breathe  vitiated 
air  as  it  is  to  drink  stagnant  water.  They  both 
promote  dangerous  growths.  It  is  in  devi- 
talized air  that  diseases  are  most  active. 

Some  of  our  school-houses,  our  churches,  our 
lecture-rooms,  our  theaters,  our  homes  even, 
are  death-traps. 

The  foul  odors  which  we  detect  in  a  close 
sleeping-room  are  simply  the  poisonous  ex- 
cretions from  the  broken-down  tissues  of  the 
body.  These  exhalations  are  rank  poison,  as 
can  be  illustrated  by  putting  a  rat,  a  mouse,  a 
rabbit  or  a  squirrel,  or  any  other  small  animal, 
into  a  jar  which  would  be  as  large  for  the  ani- 
mal as  an  ordinary  sleeping-room  would  be  for 
a  human  being,  and  then  closing  it  so  as  to  ex- 


Masterfulness  353 

elude  all  outside  air.  In  a  short  time  the  ani- 
mal will  begin  to  pant  for  breath,  and  after  a 
while  it  will  lie  down  exhausted,  turn  over 
upon  its  back,  and  stop  breathing.  In  fact,  in 
a  very  little  while  it  will  be  so  poisoned  by 
reinhaling  its  own  breath  that  it  will  die. 

When  Nature  places  us  under  the  anesthetic 
of  sleep  in  order  to  repair,  renew,  rejuvenate 
the  body,  we  need  the  purest  air,  because  the 
purest  material  is  necessary  for  the  rebuilding 
of  injured  parts.  When  asleep  we  are  very 
susceptible  to  poisoned  air. 

Our  beds  are  usually  too  low,  too  near  the 
floor,  for  the  occupants  to  get  the  best  air,  es- 
pecially when  our  sleeping-rooms  are  not 
flooded  with  fresh  air.  The  poisoned  heavy  air 
seeks  the  lowest  level. 

I  know  a  man  who  cannot  be  induced  to 
open  the  windows  in  his  sleeping-room  at 
night  in  cold  weather ;  he  even  stops  the  cracks 
where  the  cold  air  can  get  in.  He  does  not 
realize  that  if  it  were  not  for  the  cracks  about 
the  doors  and  windows,  which  he  cannot  en- 
tirely close,  he  would  not  be  likely  to  live  very 
long.  Thus  Nature,  in  her  effort  to  overcome 
the  vicious  effects  of  our  ignorance,  forces  her 


354  Keeping  Fit 


healing  balm,  her  life-giving  air,  through  every 
little  crevice,  and  keeps  many  of  us  alive  in 
spite  of  ourselves. 

Some  people  fear  they  will  take  cold  when 
going  out  on  very  cold  days ;  whereas,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  pure  dry  cold  is  extremely  stimu- 
lating and  preventive  of  taking  cold. 

Dr.  H.  W.  Wiley,  former  chief  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Chemistry,  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture, at  Washington,  says,  "It  is  a  crime  for 
anybody's  child  to  have  a  cold.  A  man  once 
came  to  me  whose  children  all  had  colds,  and 
wanted  a  cough  medicine  that  did  not  contain 
alcohol.  I  told  him  I  could  tell  him  of  a  rem- 
edy that  did  not  contain  alcohol, — that  was  to 
go  home  and  put  the  windows  of  their  sleeping- 
rooms  wide  open.  People  don't  have  colds  at 
the  North  Pole.  But  when  they  get  back  to 
civilization  they  do  have  colds.  One  would 
never  have  a  cold  if  he  did  not  breathe  foul 


air." 


Diu'ing  Nansen's  expedition  to  the  North 
Pole  he  found  that  neither  himself  nor  his  com- 
rades took  cold  at  all  while  they  were  in  the 
polar  regions,  and  it  was  only  when  they  ap- 
proached Christiania  on  their  return  that  they 


Masterfulness  355 

began  to  take  cold.  We  all  know  how  robust 
and  strong  American  Indians  were  before 
they  became  "civilized"  and  began  to  live  in 
houses.  As  long  as  they  lived  in  the  open  they 
were  exempt  from  many  of  the  diseases  from 
which  they  now  suffer  as  victims  of  civiliza- 
tion. It  would  be  a  great  thing  for  humanity 
if  every  one  had  outdoor  sleeping-rooms  sum- 
mer and  winter.  Our  colds  come  largely  from 
sudden  changes,  in  going  out  of  doors,  from 
overheated,  ill-ventilated  offices  and  homes. 

Only  recently  the  twelve-year-old  boy  of  a 
neighbor  was  low  with  pneumonia  and  had 
been  delirious  for  several  days.  The  inflam- 
mation had  involved  such  a  large  part  of  the 
surface  of  the  lungs  that  there  was  very  little 
left  for  breathing  or  for  the  circulation  of  the 
blood.  He  was  panting  for  breath,  yet  every 
window  in  the  room  in  which  he  lay  was  closed, 
while  his  back  and  chest  had  been  covered  with 
newspapers  and  a  lot  of  extra  clothing  piled 
on  him,  although  he  was  really  burning  up 
with  fever. 

In  view  of  such  ignorance  it  is  no  wonder 
that  the  rate  of  child  mortality  is  so  high.  The 
wonder  is  that  it  is  not  much  higher.     When 


356  Keeping  Fit 


one  is  suffering  from  a  fever  Nature  is  trying 
to  burn  out  the  refuse  material  of  the  body,  to 
get  rid  of  the  excess  of  poisons  from  over- 
nutrition,  from  food  half  digested  and  only 
partially  assimilated,  and  from  the  broken- 
down  tissues  of  the  body.  It  is  often  a  ques- 
tion whether  she  will  ever  be  able  to  burn  up 
all  this  refuse  material  without  so  exhausting 
the  patient's  vitality  that  he  cannot  pull 
through  the  crisis.  It  is  really  a  dangerous 
thing,  then,  either  to  exclude  the  healing  and 
upbuilding  fresh  air  or  to  force  more  nutri- 
ment upon  the  patient.  The  best  thing  is  to 
let  Nature  burn  out  the  broken-down  and  dis- 
eased tissues,  and  then  start  anew. 

The  time  will  come  when  the  government 
will  compel  the  inspection  of  offices,  factories, 
and  homes,  and  will  enforce  fresh-air  laws. 
People  will  not  always  be  allowed  to  vitiate 
their  health  and  shorten  their  lives  for  lack  of 
that  which  is  a  free  gift  to  all, — fresh  air.  The 
state  will  not  allow  such  fearful  waste  of 
human  material. 

People  who  complain  so  much  of  disagree- 
able winds  little  realize  that,  but  for  these,  life 
would    be    practically    impossible    in    large, 


Masterfulness  357 


thickly  populated  centers.  When  we  think  of 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  streams  of  poi- 
sonous gases,  smoke,  steam,  etc., — all  the  odors 
from  the  cooking  in  a  big  city's  kitchens,  the 
poisons  from  its  stables,  factories,  and  chemical 
works,  we  get  a  faint  idea  of  the  perpetual 
poison  baths  in  which  city  people  live.  In 
large  cities  like  New  York,  Chicago,  and  St. 
Louis,  absolutely  pure  air  is  practically  un- 
known, except  during  high  winds,  which  blow 
away  the  polluted  air.  Those  high  winds  are 
life  preservers.  If  it  were  not  for  them  Nature 
would  have  no  way  of  preventing  the  very  dis- 
astrous results  which  would  come  from  con- 
stantly poisoned  air  in  densely  populated 
regions. 

Next  in  importance  to  fresh  air  as  a  health 
promoter  is  sunshine.  An  Italian  proverb 
says  "Where  comes  no  sunshine,  the  physician 
is  coming."  A  great  many  people  live  only  a 
partial  life,  because  they  do  not  get  enough 
of  this  invigorator.  They  live  in  houses,  rooms, 
or  apartments  which  the  direct  sunlight  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  enters.  We  do  not  wonder  that 
they  do  not  enjoy  the  thrill  of  health,  when 
we  remember  that  there  is  poison  in  air  devoid 


358  Keeping  Fit 


of  sunshine.  If  it  were  not  for  the  flood  of  the 
sun's  rays  by  day,  the  night  air  would  soon 
become  too  poisonous  to  sustain  life. 

We  little  realize  how  dependent  we  are  upon 
this  great  ball  of  fire.  Our  coal,  our  oil,  our 
wood,  our  clothing,  our  food,  the  life  essential 
in  the  air  we  breathe,  all  are  dependent  upon 
it.  I  have  never  thought  it  strange  that  primi- 
tive peoples  should  have  worshiped  the  sun 
as  the  god  of  all  life,  of  all  material  blessings. 

If  people  only  realized  that  the  sun  is  the 
source  of  all  life,  energy,  brain  power,  muscle 
power,  efficiency,  and  health,  they  would  not 
be  content,  whenever  possible  to  do  otherwise, 
to  live  and  work  in  cellars,  basements,  or  other 
places  where  the  sun  rarely,  perhaps  never, 
enters. 

Notice  the  difference  between  a  pale,  dwarf 
scrub  plant  which  bears  neither  flower  nor 
fruit,  because  it  lacks  sunlight,  and  the  mag- 
nificent beauty  of  the  rose  and  other  flowers, 
and  the  delicious,  luscious,  fruits  which  are 
grown  and  matured  in  sunshine.  People  know 
that  plants  very  quickly  die  without  the  sun, 
yet  they  seem  to  think  that  human  beings  will 
thrive  where  plants  will  die,  although  the  sun's 


Masterfulness  359 


rays  are  more  necessary  to  human  life  than  to 
the  plant.  Sunlight  means  life,  growth, 
beauty;  while  the  absence  of  sunlight  means 
death,  destruction,  ugliness. 

How  quickly  we  feel  the  energizing,  revivi- 
fying power  of  the  sun  after  days  of  cloudy, 
wet,  foggy  weather.  In  fact,  many  people  feel 
depressed  even  at  night  when  the  sun  is  away 
only  a  short  time.  It  has  been  observed  that  in 
heavy  weather  there  is  a  diminution  of  the  res- 
piratory functions  and  poisonous  products  ac- 
cumulated in  the  body,  while  on  bright  sunny 
days  these  functions  are  increased.  The  aged 
are  especially  dependent  for  vitality  upon 
sunshine. 

Ancient  people  seemed  to  appreciate  the 
health-giving  power  of  sunshine  more  than  we 
do.  In  Rome  nearly  everybody  took  sunbaths. 
Physicians  laid  great  stress  upon  their  healing 
power. 

Sunshine  is  especially  energizing  and  heal- 
ing to  the  skin.  If  people  only  realized  its 
wonderful,  magic  power  they  would  not,  ex- 
cept in  tropical  heat,  try  to  get  away  from  it. 

In  higher  altitudes  the  sunshine  contains 
an  increased  amount  of  ultra  violet  and  blue 


360  Keeping  Fit 


rays,  which  have  a  powerful  effect  upon  the 
red  blood  corpuscles  of  the  body.  We  know 
how  we  are  exhilarated  in  high  altitudes,  when 
even  on  a  cold  day  we  can  sit  outdoors  with- 
out wraps  and  not  feel  cold.  This  is  not  only 
because  of  the  diminished  dampness,  but  also 
because  we  get  the  full  power  of  the  sun's  rays, 
so  much  of  which  is  lost  in  passing  through 
the  carbonic  acid  gas,  dust,  etc.,  floating  in 
the  lower  strata  of  air.  Warmth  is  only  a 
small  part  of  the  beneficial  influence  of  the 
sun.  Its  chemical  action  is  extremely  impor- 
tant. Sunshine  has  a  very  healthful  effect 
upon  the  nerves.  Many  insects  which  are  tor- 
pid during  heavy  or  foggy  weather  regain 
their  vitality  as  soon  as  the  sun  comes  out, 
largely  because  of  the  energizing  power  of 
its  blue  and  violet  rays. 

Sunshine  is  a  great  disinfectant,  and  it 
gives  us  a  greatly  increased  disease-resisting 
power.  It  is  an  excellent  friend  of  the  kid- 
neys, inasmuch  as,  by  inducing  greater  activ- 
ity of  the  skin,  it  relieves  them  of  much  extra 
work  in  straining  the  poisons  out  of  the 
system. 

Professor   Lugeon,    of   the   University   of 


Masterfulness  361 

Lausanne,  recently  made  a  study  of  condi- 
tions in  some  of  the  great  valleys  of  Switzer- 
land. He  found,  as  one  would  naturally 
expect,  that  three  persons  out  of  four  make 
their  homes  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  valleys. 
He  also  found  that  those  who  dwell  on  the  sun- 
lit slopes  are  far  superior  in  intelligence,  edu- 
cation, and  general  prosperity  to  those  whose 
homes  are  in  the  shadow. 

We  see,  in  every  large  city,  poor  little  hu- 
man plants  trying  to  struggle  to  manhood  and 
womanhood  in  dark,  unwholesome  tenements 
which  have  never  been  vivified  by  the  sun's 
rays.  Many  a  weak,  sickly  worker  would  be- 
come vigorous  and  strong  by  merely  getting 
into  the  sunshine.  We  cannot  expect  to  put 
power  into  our  work  if  it  is  not  in  our  lives; 
we  cannot  put  vigor  into  our  thoughts  unless 
vigor  is  first  in  our  blood;  and  the  blood,  in 
order  to  be  pure  and  active,  must  be  stimu- 
lated by  the  sun.  Notice  how  quickly  the  red 
corpuscles  of  the  blood  begin  to  fade  and  how 
soon  the  pale  cheek  takes  the  place  of  the  rosy 
one  when  a  person  is  robbed  for  any  length 
of  time  of  the  life-giving  power  of  the  great 
orb  of  day! 


362  Keeping  Fit 


The  light  and  warmth  of  the  sun  develop 
strength,  energy,  ambition,  and  courage.  A 
man's  natural  powers  are  more  than  doubled 
by  contact  with  sun  and  pure  air.  If  we  want 
to  be  strong,  mentally  and  physically  at  our 
best,  we  must  have  plenty  of  exercise,  plenty 
of  fresh  air,  plenty  of  sunshine. 

We  have  all  felt  the  renewing,  energizing, 
rejuvenating,  restorative  power  which  comes 
to  us  in  sunshiny  weather  in  the  great  gymna- 
sium of  Nature  outdoors.  Especially  is  this 
pronounced  when,  after  months  of  grinding, 
wearing  work  in  the  city,  during  which  nerve 
and  brain  have  become  exhausted,  we  go  out 
into  the  beautiful  country,  tramp  through  the 
lovely  valleys,  and  lie  in  blissful  ease  beside 
the  singing  brooks.  There  is  a  divine  some- 
thing which  comes  from  the  flowers,  the  plants, 
the  trees,  and  the  streams  that  seems  kindred 
to  our  nature. 

What  a  strong  affinity  we  feel  for  all  these 
natural  objects;  how  the  healing,  restoring, 
life-giving  pulsations  emanating  from  them 
thrill  our  natures  and  revitalize  our  exhausted 
brains !  We  cannot  see  these  life-giving  proc- 
esses; we  cannot  analyze  or  explain  them;  but 


Masterfulness  363 

we  feel  them,  and  somehow  we  cannot  help 
thinking  that  in  them  is  the  almighty  power 
which  created  us  originally,  and  which  is  now 
repairing,  restoring,  renewing,  rejuvenating 
our  lives. 

All  life  is  based  upon  this  healing,  restoring 
force,  which  comes  from  communion  with  the 
unseen,  aided  often  by  the  things  which  we 
see,  as  in  beautiful  objects  of  nature.  Our 
faith  is  an  open  door  which  lets  in  the  flow 
of  this  healing  power.  Our  faith  in  the  cosmic 
ether  of  the  universe,  that  has  power  to  renew 
and  restore,  keeps  all  our  powers  in  harmony. 

Many  have  felt  the  influence  of  this  mys- 
terious cosmic  force,  when  coming  into  the 
midst  of  great  natural  beauty  of  scenery,  when 
their  esthetic  faculties  have  been  thrilled  with 
the  beauty  which  would  entrance  the  angels. 
Invalids  have  been  healed  by  such  experi- 
ences. 

Have  you  never  come  suddenly  upon  scen- 
ery, like  the  first  views  of  the  Yosemite  Val- 
ley, when  tears  of  joy  would  stream  down 
your  face,  and  you  would  feel  the  thrill  of  the 
beautiful  surging  through  your  very  soul? 

What  a  revolution  the  restorative,  uplifting 


364  Keeping  Fit 


forces  of  nature  work  in  suffering  invalids,  in 
wornout,  nerve-racked  men  and  women  who 
go  into  the  country  for  rest  and  refreshment! 
Every  natural  object  seems  to  turn  on  a  new 
faucet  of  power  in  their  languid  frames.  They 
feel  that  they  are  coming  back  to  their  own, 
as  the  medicinal  renewing  forces  pulsate,  as  it 
were,  through  their  very  souls. 

There  is  a  mysterious  force  in  Nature  which 
thrills  even  the  blind  and  the  deaf.  Helen 
Keller  says  that  she  can  feel  the  marvelous 
beauty  and  pulsing  life  of  the  fields,  the  for- 
ests, the  streams,  and  the  rivers,  and  that  she 
senses  the  loveliness  of  the  flowers,  the  plants, 
and  the  sunsets.  She  feels,  as  we  all  do  in 
the  country,  a  thrill  of  life  which  she  does  not 
feel  in  the  city.  It  is  the  magic  of  this  healing, 
restoring,  medicinal  force  that  makes  the 
great  difference  between  life  in  the  country, 
where  one  is  attuned  to  the  beautiful,  the  up- 
lifting, the  energizing,  and  life  in  the  city, 
where  one  is  surrounded  by  the  atmosphere 
of  sordid,  greedy,  grasping,  selfish  pursuits. 

Get  out  of  doors !  Get  out  of  doors !  Take 
deep  breaths!  Exercise,  and  be  a  whole  man, 
a  whole  woman! 


OPINIONS    OF 

Cfie  31opg  of  Hibins 

In  Every  Sense  Worth  While 

"A  ringing  call  for  a  joyful  life  is  just  what 
this  old  world  needs  to  hear  and  to  heed.  A 
saner,  wiser,  more  helpful  book  than  this  we 
have  rarely  read.  ...  In  every  sense  well 
worth   the   while."  The   Examiner. 

Wholesome  Reading 

"The  book  makes  wholesome  reading.  One 
lays  it  down  with  a  resolve  to  find  more  happi- 
ness in  his  life  and  a  determination  to  live  more 
in  the  present."  Springfield   Republican. 

One  of  the  Author's  Best 

"The  author  has  been  doing  uniformly  good 
work,  work  that  has  elicited  warmest  commen- 
dations from  leading  men  of  the  country.  'The 
Joys  of  Living'  is  one  of  Dr.  Marden's  best 
books."  Chicago  Standard. 

More   Such  Teachers  Wanted 

"Give  us  more  such  teachers  and  writers,  more 
such  heralds  of  the  new  and  ever  present  king- 
dom of  Good,  of  Joy,  of  Opulence!  Just  read 
this  book  yourself  and  you  will  change  your 
whole   mental   attitude."  The   Truth-Seeker. 

A  Book  for  the  Nerve-worn 

"The  book  is  one  that  our  rushing  American 
world  needs.  If  you  feel  compassion  for  any 
nerve-worn,  unhappy  man  or  woman,  tell  them 
of  this  message.  Better  still,  send  the  book  to 
some  one  who  needs  it."  Portland  Oregonian. 


i3mo,  cloth,  $1.35  ^^f'     By  mail,  $1.37. 

THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 


OPINIONS    OF 

Crainins  for  O^fficiencp 

Practical  Ideas 

"Dr.  Harden  has  practical  ideas,  and  the  sug- 
gestions   made    are    good."        Providence   Journal. 

Something  for  Every  One 

"There  is  something  here  for  every  one.  The 
author  goes  to  bed-rock  principles  that  may  apply 
in  the  lives  of  all.  The  book  should  be  circu- 
lated widely."  Milwaukee  Journal. 

Radiates  Optimism 

"The  very  chapter  topics  radiate  optimism. 
Every  theory  enunciated  is  practical,  and  the  au- 
thor's views  of  life  deserve  to  be  highly  com- 
mended." Christian  Endeavor   World. 

Sure  to  Appeal 

"The  advice  given  is  sound,  homely,  but  sure 
to  appeal.  Dr.  Marden  and  his  publishers  have 
contributed  a  notable  service  in  issuing  this 
book."  Trenton   Sunday    Times. 

Standard  Literature 

"The  chapters  constitute  standard  literature  on 
the  subjects  discussed.  No  better  book  for  the 
efficiency   student   is   to  be   obtained." 

Railroad  Men. 

For  Young  and  Old 

"Exceedingly  practical  and  highly  inspirational. 
Young  and  old  will  read  it  with  equal  profit  and 
pleasure."  Christian  Advocate. 


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OPINIONS    OF 

Cfje  O^xteptional  Cmplopee 


Uplifting  to  Humanity 

"I  assure  you  that  the  present  and  future  gen- 
erations must  look  upon  such  a  work  as  most 
uplifting   to    humanity." 

Charles  Francis,    Charles  Francis  Press, 
New   York   City. 

Fresh  Efforts  after  Reading 

"No  one  will  fail  to  put  forth  fresh  and  better 
directed  efforts  to  work  to  the  front  after  read- 
ing the  book."  Good  Health. 

The  Ladder  of  Success 

"The  author  writes  with  a  purpose  in  view; 
that  purpose  is  found  on  the  topmost  rungs  of 
the  ladder  of  success.  In  order  to  find  the  pur- 
pose the  reader  must  ascend  this  ladder.  The 
rest  is  easy." 
Chamber  of  Commerce  Bulletin    {Portland,   Ore.). 

A  Wise  Investment 

"Any  one  who  employs  labor  where  it  requires 
character  and  intelligence  would  make  a  wise  in- 
vestment by  presenting  his  employees  a  copy  of 
this  book.  It  has  been  some  time  since  I  have 
read  a  more  wholesome,  inspiring,  and  fascinating 
volume."  J.   J.    Cole,    in    Christian   Standard. 

Brimful  of  Anecdote  and  Illustration 

"The  book  is  not  all  theory  and  principle.  It 
is  brimful  of  the  anecdote  and  illustration  from 
actual  business  life  which  gives  vigor  and  ac- 
ceptance to  the  writer's  ideas." 

Christian  Advocate. 


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OPINIONS    OF    THE 


Sound,  Practical  Suggestions 

"Contains  a  lot  of  sound,  practical  suggestions 
worth  considering  by  those  responsible  for  the 
conduct    of    business    enterprises." 

New  York  Times, 

Good   Business   Advice 

"One  of  the  best  books  of  business  advice  ever 
published."  Albany  Argus. 

Worthy  of  High  Commendation 

"A  book  that  contains  such  valuable  informa- 
tion— and  there  is  no  doubt  about  this  being  the 
quality  of  its  contents — ought  to  be  widely  read 
and  highly  prized.  It  is  worthy  of  high  com- 
mendation." Religious   Telescope. 

An  Inspiration  and  a  Guide 

"A  work  that  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
business  man  who  desires  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  his  business.  It  will  prove  both  an  in- 
spiration  and    a    guide." 

Christian   Work  and  Evangelist. 

Valuable  Information 

"The  information  in  this  book  is  so  valuable 
that  it  ought  to  have  the  widest  possible  reading. 
We  unhesitatingly  commend  it  to  every  business 
man."  Trojan   Messenger. 

Sane  and  Helpful 

"Like  all  the  Harden  books,  it  contains  a  sane 
and  helpful  philosophy   of  right  conduct." 

Des  Moines  Capital. 


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Opinions  of 

®I}f  MirutU  of  Sigljt  ©Ijougtrt 

Dr.  Sheldon  Leavitt  says: 

"  I  wish  to  state  that  I  am  unusually  well  pleased  with 
Dr.  Marden's  'Miracle  of  Right  Thought.'  It  is  the 
best  work  of  the  author." 

Ralph  Waldo  Trine  says: 

"  This  is  one  of  those  inspiring,  reasonable  and  valuable 
books  that  are  bringing  new  life  and  new  power  to  so 
many  thousands  all  over  our  country  and  all  over  the 
world  to-day." 

"You  have  formulated  a  philosophy 

which  must  sooner  or  later  be  universally  accepted. 
Your  book  shows  how  the  right  mental  attitude  helps 
one  in  the  realization  of  every  laudable  ambition,  and 
the  value  of  cultivating  a  bright,  self-reliant  habit  of 
thought.     I  congratulate  you  on  it." 

G.  H.  Sandison,  Editor,  The  Christian  Herald. 

**  It  is  marked  by  sanctified  common  sense; 

it  is  in  line  with  the  advance  thought  of  to-day,  and 
yet  it  is  so  simple  in  statement  that  unlettered  men  and 
untrained  yoatns  can  master  its  best  thoughts  and  trans- 
late them  into  their  daily  lives." 

Rev.  R.  S.  MacArthur,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

Rev.  F.  E.  Clark,  President  United  Societj" 
of  Christian  Endeavor,  says : 

"  I  regard  '  The  Miracle  of  Right  Thought '  as  one  of 
Dr.  Marden's  very  best  books,  and  that  is  saying  a  great 
deal.  He  has  struck  the  modern  note  of  the  power  of 
mind  over  bodily  conditions  in  a  fresh  and  most  inter- 
esting way,  while  he  has  not  fallen  into  the  mistake  of 
some  New  Thought  writers  of  eliminating  the  personal 
God  from  the  universe.  No  one  can  read  this  book 
sympathetically,  I  believe,  without  being  happier  and 
better." 

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Letters  to  Dr.  Marden  concerning 

(Betting  0n 

Effective  and  Inspiring 

"  I  think  the  chapters  in  this  book  are  the  most  effec- 
tive and  inspiring  I  have  read.     They  make  one  \\'ant 
to  be  something  better.     Had  I  read  them  ten  or  fifteen 
years  ago  I  should  have  been  a  different  person  now." 
H.  J.  Cropley,  Victoria,  Australia. 

**  I  have  gained  great  good 

from  reading  the  chapter  '  Emergencies  the  Test  of 
Ability.'  You  have  placed  my  ideas  of  life  and  raised 
my  goals  far  above  what  they  once  were." 

Rupert  C.  Bowden,  Magazine,  Arkansas. 

Of  Value  to  Employees 

"  I  became  so  impressed  with  the  directness  of  your 
article  '  The  Precedent  Breaker '  that  I  shall  ask  each 
one  of  our  employees  to  read  it,  notifying  them  of  its 
appearance  through  our  weekly  bulletin." 

Samuel  Brill,  Head  of  firm  of  Brill  Bros. 

Chapter  reprinted  by  Bell  Telephone  Co. 

"  I  take  pleasure  in  sending  you  two  copies  of  The 
Telephone  News,  in  which  appears  your  splendid  arti- 
cle '  The  Precedent  Breaker.'  We  are  grateful  for 
your  kind  permission  to  send  this  through  the  News 
to  six  thousand  Bell  Telephone  employees." 

George  G.  St ^ui.,  Advertising  Manager 
Bell  Telephone  Co.  of  Pennsylvania. 

An  Inspiration  in  Time  of  Need 

"  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  the  chapter  on  '  Clear  Grit 
did  It.'  It  has  been  an  inspiration  to  me  in  a  time 
when  I  needed  it  most." 

C.  W.  Hale,  Indianapolis^  Ind. 


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Press  Reviews  of  Dr.  Marden's 

Be  (Boob  to  l^oucself 

"The  author  is  a  wonder, — 

one  of  the  very  best  preachers,  through  the  pen,  of  our 
time."  Lion's  Herald. 

"  Just  such  a  discussion  of  personality 

as  we  all  need.  The  titles  of  the  chapters  are  appetiz- 
ing and  the  advice  and  lessons  taught  are  good.  It 
will  help  many  a  reader  to  understand  himself  better." 

The  Advance. 

"  The  kind  counsel  of  a  new  book 

by  Orison  Swett  Marden,  who  says  there  are  many 
people  who  are  good  to  others  but  not  to  themselves. 
This  is  a  fine  volume  from  every  point  of  view." 

The  Religious  Telescope. 

"Of  a  thoroughly  inspirational  character, 

these  essays  are  calculated  to  awaken  and  sustain  the 
right  sort  of  ambition  and  evolve  a  manly  type  of  char- 
acter. They  are  surcharged  with  faith,  optimism,  and 
common  sense."  The  Boston  Herald. 

"  Dr.  Marden's  friends, 

who  are  to  be  found  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  wait 
eagerly  for  such  advice  as  this,  on  how  to  be  happy, 
hearty,  and  healthy."  Seattle  Post-Intelligencer. 


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LETTERS  ABOUT 


"ptaUf  'po)X)tt  anb  "pUnt^ 


"  I  cannot  thank  you  enough 
for  *  Peace,   Power  and  Plenty.*     Your  fornraer  book, 

*  Every  man  a  King,'  has  been  my  '  bedside  book  *  for 
many  months  now,  —  the  new  me  is  even  more  of  a 
comfort." — Blanche  Bates. 

"  I  have  read  with  great  pleasure, 
interest  and  profit  your  admirable  *  Peace,  Power  and 
Plenty.'     To  have  written  ouch  a  book  is  a  service  to 
the  race."  —  Charles  Edward  Russell. 

Andrew  Carnegie  says 

"I  thank  you  for  'Why  Grow  Old?'  (a  chapter  in 

*  Peace,  Power  and  Plenty ')." 

John  Burroughs  says 
"  I  am  reading  a  chapter  or  two  in  *  Peace,  Power  and 
Plenty'  each  evening.     You  preach  a  sound,  vigorous, 
wholesome  doctrine." 

"  The  most  valuable  chapter  for  me  " 

says  Thomas  Wentworth  r'igginson,  "is  that  on  'Why 
Grow  Old?'  I  wish  to  learn  just  that.  I  am  now  85, 
and  have  never  felt  old  yet,  but  I  shall  keep  your 
chapter  at  hand  in  case  that  should  ever  happen  to  me." 

Conan  Doyle  says 
"I  find  it  very  stimulating  and  interesting." 

"  The  chapter  on  *  Health  Through  Right  Thinking* 
alone  is  worth  five  hundred  dollars." — Samuel  Brill, 
Head  of  the  firm  of  Brill  Brothers,  New  York. 


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NEW  YORK 


Letters  to  Dr.  Marden  concerning 

Bveri2  ^an  a  Iking 

Success  vs.  Failure 
"  One  of  the  mosl  inspiring  books  I  have  ever  read. 
I  should  like  to  pi.rchase  a  thousand  and  distribute 
them,  as  I  believe  the  reading  of  this  book  would  make 
the  difference  between  success  and  failure  in  many  lives." 
Chas.  E.  Schmick,  House  of  Representatives^  Mass. 

Worth  One  Hundred  Dollars 

"  I  would  not  take  one  hundred  dollars  for  your  book, 
'  Every  Man  a  King, '  if  no  other  were  available." 

WiLLARD  Merriam,  Ncw  York  City. 

Unfailing  Optimism 

"  The  unfailing  note  of  optimism  which  rings  through 
all  your  works  is  distinctly  sounded  here." 

W.  E.  Huntington,  Pres.,  Boston  University. 

The  Keynote  of  Life 

"'Every  Man  a  King'  strikes  the  keynote  of  life. 
Any  one  of  its  chapters  is  well  worth  the  cost  of  the 
book."  E.  J.  Teagarden,  Danbury,  Conn. 

Simply  Priceless 

"  I  have  just  read  it  with  tremendous  interest,  and  I 
frankly  say  that  I  regard  it  as  simply  priceless.  Its 
value  to  me  is  immeasurable,  and  I  should  be  glad  if  I 
could  put  it  in  the  hands  of  every  intelligent  young 
man  and  woman  in  this  country." 

Chas.  Stokes  Wayne,  Chappaqua^  N.  Y. 

Renewed  Ambition 

"  1  have  read  and  re-read  it  with  pleasure  and  re- 
newed ambition.  I  shall  ever  keep  it  near  at  hand  as 
a  frequent  reminder  and  an  invaluable  text-book." 

H.  H.  Williams,  Brockton,  Mass. 

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Letters  to  Dr.  Marden  concerning 

Ibe  Can  Mbo  ^btnfte  Ibe  Can 

Will  Do  Amazing  Good 

*•'  I  believe  '  He  Can  Who  Thinks  He  Can, '  compris- 
ing some  of  your  editorials,  which  appear  akin  to  divine 
inspiration  in  words  of  cheer,  hope,  courage  and  success, 
will  do  amazing  good." 

James  Peter,  Independence,  Kas. 

Greatest  Things  Ever  Written 

"  Your  editorials  on  the  subjects  of  self-confidence 
and  self-help  are  the  greatest  things  ever  written  along 
that  line."  H.  L.  Dunlap,  Waynesburg,  Pa. 

Gripping  Power 

"  Presents  the  truth  in  a  remarkably  clear  and  for- 
cible manner,  vrith  a  gripping  power  back  of  the  writing. 
It  is  beautiful  and  inspiring." 

C.  W.  Smelskr,  Coopertown,  Okla. 

Beginning  of  My  Success 

"  Your  editorials  have  helped  me  more  than  any  other 
reading.  The  beginning  of  my  success  was  when  I 
commenced  to  practise  your  teachings." 

Bruce  Hartman,  Honolulu,  T.  H. 

Wishes  to  Reprint  It 

"  I  have  been  very  much  impressed  by  the  chapter  on 
<  New  Thought,  New  Life. '  I  would  like  to  send  a 
copy  of  it  to  two  thousand  of  my  customers,  giving  due 
credit  of  course."   John  D.  Mok-ris,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Full  of  Light  and  Joy 

"  I  have  studied  the  subject  of  New  Thought  for  ten 
years,  but  have  never  seen  anything  so  comprehensive, 
so  full  of  light  and  joy,  as  your  treatment  of  it.  When 
I  think  of  the  good  it  will  do,  and  the  thousands  it  will 
reach,  my  heart  rejoices." 

Louise  Markscheffei,,  Toledo,  0» 


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Letters  to  Dr.  Marden  concerning 

Ipusbing  to  tbe  jfront 


What  President  McKinley  Said 
"  It  cannot  but  be  an  inspiration  to  every  boy  or  girl 
who  reads  it,  and  who  is  possessed  of  an  honorable  and 
high  ambition.  Nothing  that  I  have  seen  of  late  is 
more  worthy  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  American 
youth."  William  McKinley. 

An  English  View 

*'  I  have  read  *  Pushing  to  the  Front '  with  much 
Interest.  It  would  be  a  great  stimulus  to  any  young 
man  entering  life."  Sir  John  Lubbock. 

A  Powerful  Factor 

"  This  book  has  been  a  powerful  factor  in  making  a 
great  change  in  my  life.  I  feel  that  I  have  been  born 
into  a  new  world." 

Robert  S.  Livingston,  Deweyville,  Tex. 

The  Helpfulest  Book 

**  *  Pushing  to  the  Front '  is  more  of  a  marvel  to  me 
every  day.  I  read  it  almost  daily.  It  is  the  helpfulest 
book  in  the  English  language." 

Myron  T.  Pritchard,  Boston,  Mass. 

A  Practical  Gift 

**  It  has  been  widely  read  by  our  organization  of  somff 
fifteen  hundred  men.  I  have  personally  made  presents 
of  more  than  one  hundred  copies." 

E.  A.  Evans,  President  Chicago  Portrait  Co. 

Its  Weight  in  Gold 

*'  If  every  young  man  could  read  it  carefully  at  the 
beginning  of  his  career  it  would  be  worth  more  to  him 
than  its  weight  in  gold."    R.  T.  Allen,  BillingSr,  Mon, 


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OPINIONS   OF 

•Rieing  in  tbc  Wlortb 

"  A  storehouse  of  incentive, 
a   treasury   of    precious   sayings ;    a   granary   of 
seed-thoughts  capable,  under  proper  cultivation,  of 
a  fine  character  harvest." — Edward  A.  Horton. 

*'A  stimulating  book 

which  is  pitched  at  a  high  note  and  rings  true." 

—  Edwin  M,  Bacon. 

"  Has  all  the  excellences  of  style 

and  matter  that  gave  to  *  Pushing  to  the 
Front '  its  signal  success.  Dr.  Marden's  power 
of  pithy  statement  and  pertinent  illustration  seems 
inexhaustible." — W.  F.  Warren, 

Former  President  of  Boston  University. 

Touches  the  Springs  of  Life 
"  Dr.  Marden  has  touched  the  springs  of  life 
and  set  forth  with  marvellous  and  convincing 
power  the  results  obtained  by  those  inspired  by 
high  resolves,  lofty  aspirations,  and  pure  motives. 
No  one  can  rise  from  reading  this  book  without 
cleaner  desires,  firmer  resolutions,  and  sublime 
ambition." — Myron  T,  Pritchard, 

Master  of  Everett  School^  Boston. 

Its  Immortal  Possibilities 
"Has  the  same  iron  in  the  blood,  the  same 
vigorous  constitution,  the  same  sanguine  temper- 
ament, the  same  immortal  possibilities  as  '  Push- 
ing to  the  Front.'  " — Thomas  W.  Bicknell, 

Ex-U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education. 


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PRESS    REVIEWS   OF 

®t][v  liruttg  Man  Snt^rtitg  SuaUt^BB 

*'A  readable  volume 

on  a  substantial  topic,  which  discusses  actual 
questions.  The  counsel  of  an  experienced 
person  "  Pittsbicrgh  Post. 

Abounds  in  Specific  Advice 

"  We  can  easily  conceive  that  a  young  man  who 
gets  this  bonk  into  his  hands  may,  in  after  life, 
date  his  success  from  reading  it.  It  is  sound, 
wholesome,  stimulating.  The  treatment  is  con- 
crete. It  abounds  in  specific  advice  and  telling 
illustration."  Southerji  Observer. 

Stimulates  and  Encourages 

*'  Packed  ar,  it  is  with  sensible,  practical  coun- 
sels, this  volume  can  be  cordially  recommended 
to  stimulate  and  encourage  young  men  starting 
out  in  businesi=  life."  Brooklyji  Times. 

A  Necessity  to  Earnest  Young  Men 

"There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  science  of  suc- 
cess. Dr.  Marden  has  made  a  study  of  it.  He 
writes  in  simple,  attractive  style.  He  deals  with 
facts.  The  book  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
earnest  young  man,"  Christian  Advocate. 

Entertaining  as  Well  as  Helpful 

•'  So  interwoven  with  personal  incident  and 
illustration  that  it  is  an  entertaining  as  well  as  a 
helpfullbook."  Christian  Observer. 


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Opinions  and  Reviews  of  Dr.  Marden's 

^be  Secret  of  Hcbievement 


Exasperating 

"  *  The  Secret  of  Achievement '  is  one  of  those  exas- 
perating books  which  you  feel  you  ought  to  present  to 
your  young  friends,  yet  find  yourself  unwilling  to  part 
with."  William  B.  Warren,  Former  President 

Boston  University. 

Art  of  Putting  Things 

"  I  have  studied  Dr.  Marden's  books  with  deep  inter- 
est. He  has  the  art  of  putting  things ;  of  planting  in 
the  mind  convictions  that  will  live.  I  know  of  no  works 
that  contain  equal  inspiration  for  life." 

Hezekiah  Butterworth. 

A  Great  Service 

"  I  thoroughly  feel  that  you  are  rendering  a  great 
service  to  young  men  and  women  in  America  and 
throughout  the  world." 

Rev.  R.  S.  MacArthur,  D.  D.,  New  York  City. 

The  Difference 

"  *  Pushing  to  the  Front '  is  a  great  book  and '  Rising 
in  the  World '  is  a  magnificent  book,  but '  The  Secret 
of  Achievement '  is  a  superb  book." 

Success  against  Odds 

"  This  volume  contains  a  series  of  stimulating  anec- 
dotes and  advice  showing  how  energy,  force  of  well-di- 
rected will,  application,  lofty  purpose,  and  noble  ideals 
serve  to  win  success  even  against  the  greatest  odds. 
Many  a  young  man  will  draw  inspiration  from  it  which 
will  aid  him  in  making  his  life  work  a  success." 

School  Journal. 


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Xi:alfeg  voitb  (great  TOIlorftcrg 

A  Practical  Book 
"  We  could  hardly  place  a  more  practical  book 
than  this  in  the  hands  of  the  young ;  for  nothing 
is  more  fascinating  than  the  romance  of  reality, 
the  study  of  worthy  achievement  under  difficulty, 
the  contrast  between  obscure  beginnings  and  tri- 
umphant endings  ;  nothing  is  more  valuable  than 
to  teach  just  such  lessons  as  these  through  the 
medium,  not  of  fiction,  but  of  fact." 

The  Palladium. 

Of  Impressive  Interest 
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of  personal  opinion  and  experience." 

New  York  World. 

A  Stimulus  to  Endearor 

"  The  book  is  a  good  one  for  young  men  and 
women  who  need  a  stimulus  to  endeavor." 

Buffalo  Express. 

'*It  will  pay  anybody  to  read 

in  this  book  how  representative  successful  people 
of  a  representatively  successful  age  advanced  to 
their  present  positions  in  the  world.  This  vol- 
ume is  vital  with  interest  besides  being  full  of 
philosophy  and  practical  hints."      Boston  Herald. 

Of  Value  to  the  Ambitious 

"  Will  not  only  prove  interesting  reading,  but 
of  the  highest  possible  value  to  ambitious  men 
and  women  striving  after  success." 

Omaha  World-Herald. 


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^be  ©pttmiettc  Xife 

Holds  the  Attention 
"  The  title  of  this  book  attracts  the  attention, 
and  the  contents  rivet  it."  The  Watchman. 

Eich  in  Thought  and  Suggestion 

"  A  book  rich  in  noble  thought.  Few  are  those 
who  will  not  wince  under  the  good-natured  thrusts 
that  Dr.  Harden  gives  their  foibles  and  weak- 
nesses, but  few  also  are  they  who  may  not  find 
much  helpful  suggestion  here." 

San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

Strengthens  Spirit  and  Body 

"  Dr.  Marden  has  done  an  immense  amount 
of  good  by  this  practical  advice  and  encouraging 
insistence  upon  the  essentials  of  happiness.  The 
spirit  of  the  toiler  needs  strengthening  quite  as 
much  as  his  body."  Christian  Advocate. 

Its  Wholesome  Brain  Fare 

"This  volume  contains  quantities  of  plain, 
wholesome  brain  fare  for  the  misanthrope  and 
the  cynic."  Des  Moines  Register. 

Both  Uplifting  and  Necessary 

" '  Do  not  look  on  life  through  smoked  glasses' 
is  Dr.  Marden's  motto.  He  believes  so  enthusi- 
astically in  cheerfulness,  energy,  and  kindness 
that  he  can  almost  persuade  one  to  believe  there 
is  no  necessity  for  old  age,  sorrow,  or  discourage- 
ment. Still  there  is  no  doubt  but  his  message  is 
not  only  uplifting  but  necessary." 

Indianapolis  News. 

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\      1  il... 


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"7^ 


